Power and Loss
by Arthur Hansen
Summary: DC Comics semicrossover. Chp 1 & 2 are standalone stories until you get to Chp 3.
1. Enter Ranma!

Superboy½?!  
  
The room was heavily shaded, lit mostly by the cigar that the craggy and stout man that sat behind the office's desk. In front of him, sitting nervously attentive, was a much slighter man.  
  
"We still haven't found any sign of that lost subject. It was like he disappeared into thin air when he went to China. He likely either died, or was just a null."  
  
"Recall our agents then. I'd hoped to make sure there was no one within Japan that could stand up against us, but even so, he is but one boy. When Japan rises from the ashes of our defeat and humiliation from World War II, nothing will stop us." An evil smile broke his bleak features, sending chills up his underlings back.  
  
"Of course, sir." The littler man stood up and exited the room.  
  
The shadow shifted to look out over the dark city. "Damn those vagrants and damn Dr. Kasugi for taking that boy in when he was hurt." And damn him for having killed Dr. Kasugi then.  
  
-  
  
Ranma lay on the roof of the Tendo's home, snoozing quietly. It had been a slow couple of days and he didn't have anything to do for a while. His mother had dragged his father off and everyone else was just hanging out relaxing.  
  
"Ranma! I lost P-chan again!" Akane called out from the ground below.  
  
The boy on top of the room sat up and looked around sleepily. "He's behind the dojo," he called out drowsily. He lay back down, preparing to snooze a bit more.  
  
"What?" she called out. "This is probably some sort of wild goose chase." She trotted around the corner of the dojo, seeing her little pet sitting in front of a fire that was heating up a kettle. "P-chan!" Akane swept up her pet piglet and upended the kettle over the little fire.  
  
A sudden thought occurred to her. She stomped back towards Ranma. "What were you trying to do to P-chan?" she called out angrily.  
  
"Huh? What are you talking about?"  
  
"Why were you boiling water? Were you trying to hurt him?"  
  
"If you hadn't noticed, I'm a guy right now and don't need hot water."  
  
"So you expect me to believe P-chan did that on his own?"  
  
"In a word? Yes, you dummy!" Ranma laid back down. Ranma couldn't believe how dense Akane could be sometimes. How could she dismiss every single clue about Ryoga's curse?  
  
"Grrr." Akane put her pet down and picked up a small boulder. With all of her might, she tossed it at her snoozing fiancé. "Don't you dare pick on P- chan again!"  
  
Ranma rolled the boulder off of his face, shaking his head. "I didn't do anything! You are so dorky, you dumb tomboy!"  
  
"Just dry up and blow away, jerk!"  
  
The pig-tailed boy rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. He must be getting tougher. He'd hardly felt that. He picked it up and hopped to the ground, sinking six inches into the ground, almost stumbling. He set the stone back in place.  
  
Ranma gave the ground an accusing glare. "Stupid dirt." He reached down and crumbled it. It felt fairly dry, but it was still pretty soft in his grasp.  
  
"Ranma! I warned you that you needed to not hurt Akane's feelings!" Ryoga shouted. Somehow in just the last few moments he'd reversed his curse and managed to find some clothing.  
  
"What are you talking about, Piggy? I ain't done nothing!"  
  
"I can't believe you! Die, Ranma!" Ryoga shouted, lunging forward to attack.  
  
Ranma dodged the slower boy, seesawing between the punches and kicks as if they were thrown in slow motion. "If you're gonna fight, at least put some effort into it!" Ranma catcalled.  
  
"I'll show you! You don't deserve a girl as nice as Akane!" Ryoga shouted again. He suddenly expelled all of his breath as the slightly smaller boy tagged him lightly.  
  
"Uh, yeah... right." Ranma couldn't put his heart into it the jibe. It mirrored too closely to what he felt at times. A fierce determination welled up in him. "But I ain't gonna let some jerk like you put the moves on to her! At least I don't sneak into her bed!"  
  
"Ranma! Die!" The Lost Boy let himself be tripped to the ground. With a tap, it exploded flinging him at his surprised foe. "I've got you now!" And with that he imbedded his fist in Ranma's stomach, fully expecting him to at least leave himself open.  
  
"Heh. I've been eating my Wheaties. You need to practice more!" Ranma quipped, hardly feeling the blow and dodging in between the others.  
  
From the shadowed recesses of the house, Akane watched the fight absently. Why were those two always fighting? It just didn't make sense. Why did Ranma have to be such a jerk to Ryoga. Sighing, she put it aside until a different day.  
  
Ryoga hated to admit it, but Ranma did seem to have improved the most out of the two. He would just have to try harder!  
  
Ranma, on the other hand, wasn't putting as much effort into the fight as it appeared. It had only been a few weeks since the failed wedding. The sun was beating down on this summer morning and it was just too good to waste sitting around all day inside.  
  
-  
  
Deep within his body, changes necessitated by growing up were taking place. His body was only a few short weeks away from his seventeenth birthday. Chemicals and RNA interacted, lighting a spark deep within his brain. That spark jumped from cell to cell, setting off a storm of changes in just a few short moments.  
  
Within each cell, useless seeming DNA and RNA started to process in strange and unusual ways. Little changes were swept up in the storm, energizing everything in its path.  
  
-  
  
Ranma felt something happening. It was like a warmth suffusing his entire body. "Uh..." he moaned, sinking unsteadily to one knee.  
  
His opponent stopped, too chivalrous too beat him down in a moment of weakness. Twinges within his heart told him that he was over reacting. Ranma and Akane always acted this way. It was almost as if they didn't know how to act differently. Though he had seen the stolen glances, the looks of longing that they wouldn't admit to each other.  
  
Ranma shook his head. "Whoa. I don't know what that was, but it was kind of weird."  
  
"Are you ready yet? I haven't finished beating you down!"  
  
"Jeeze, don't get yer knickers in a bunch." Ranma was still a bit woozy, even if he didn't show it externally.  
  
"Your funeral!" he cried out, smashing a punishing, full strength punch into Ranma's face.  
  
Ranma fell over, bouncing once. He grabbed his face in shock. He'd barely felt that! "What was that? I thought you were finished playing?"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"I hardly felt that." Ranma bounced to his feet.  
  
Ryoga blinked in astonishment. "You're lying!" he said loudly, positive that Ranma must be trying to trick him or something. He launched a jumping leap kick at Ranma's head.  
  
"You had this coming," Ranma crowed, twisting just so to let the blow slide along side of him. He lashed out with a powerful punch, expecting to double over his opponent for another attack.  
  
He was shocked as Ryoga seemed to rocket away as if hit by a train, smashing thru the wall of the compound. "Ryoga?"  
  
The lost boy groaned and curled up into a ball. When could Ranma hit so hard?  
  
"Quit joking around. Ryoga, that isn't funny!" Ranma cried out. He trotted over to him, seeing blood dribble out of Ryoga's mouth. "Oh, damn. I'd better get you some help." Ranma picked up the Lost Boy, not even noticing how light he felt. With a bound, he ran off with his hurt friend. With a single bounce, he was bounding over the roofs at record speed.  
  
"Ranma? Ryoga!" Akane called out, just seeing Ranma take off with the injured boy. She knew something like this was going to happen. She hurried off in the direction after them.  
  
Ranma felt the air hammer against him as he rushed to the nearest hospital. The ground and buildings blurred beneath him, as if he was using his greatest speed. In what seemed just a couple of seconds, he was at the hospital, explaining what had happened.  
  
The doctor prognosis was that Ryoga had internal bleeding, brought about by their fighting. Ranma just couldn't believe that Ryoga could be hurt so much from one punch from himself. He sat alone in the emergency room, all by himself until Akane showed up minutes later.  
  
His fiancée, for her part, couldn't believe how wounded Ranma looked, sitting alone in the sterile room. His face lit up when he saw her, the dark and gloomy cloud almost entirely disappearing. But she could still see that something was wrong.  
  
-  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Our satellite detected a momentary use of Class III powers within Tokyo." It was the thinner, small man, holding an officious looking folder.  
  
The burly figure behind the desk didn't seem to take note for a long moment. "And this concerns me how?"  
  
"It is from an unknown entity. You wanted to be appraised of..."  
  
"I know what I said. I thought you would know enough to bring only important issues to me. A Class III is relatively unimportant." His eyes seemed to glow red for just a second. "My plan is too far along to stop now."  
  
"Should I send out some recruiters to that area?"  
  
"Send Rei. Tell her that she is to be ready to depart for the parliament at a moments notice if needed." He turned to look at the row of windows that turned into a large screen, showing a mob of people protesting somewhere. The people seemed to be shouting and threatening the police. "I have more pressing concerns."  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
-  
  
Akane turned to look at Ranma as they walked home, hours later. The doctors had said that Ryoga was going to be fine. Considering how quickly he and Ranma healed, she expected to visit sometime in the next week. She frowned as she saw how withdrawn Ranma was. It seemed to out of character for him for him to be so upset.  
  
Although... Ranma had been pretty upset when he had thought she had died. Could it mean that Ranma really did like Ryoga? They always fought, but she did have to admit that if Ryoga was really having a problem, Ranma was usually the first one there to help. "Ranma? Are you alright?"  
  
"Hmm? Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking. I really hurt Ryoga. That shouldn't have happened. I need to go on a training trip to retrain myself."  
  
"It has been a while since we've been on a training trip, hasn't it?"  
  
"Huh? Oh... yeah. As long as you promise to make curry!"  
  
"Are you insinuating something?"  
  
"No!" Ranma said truthfully. He was desperately trying to not to say something unkind about her cooking. It had improved, that he had to admit. But that was the only thing that had improved recently.  
  
"Good!"  
  
They were suddenly buffeted by a powerful gust of wind, nearly knocking them over. Ranma was left clinging to the side of the fence while Akane desperately trying to keep her modesty, holding her dress down with both hands.  
  
"What the heck was that?" they exclaimed to each other.  
  
There answer arrived with another gust of wind. The young woman floated casually above them, holding a small computerized instrument of some sort. "Hmm. Not you," she said, pointing the device at Akane. She turned to point it towards Ranma. It pinged audibly. "Hey! Not too shabby if I say so myself." She was garbed in an extremely tight one piece body suit, colored lime and forest green, a stylized kanji of power on her upper right breast.  
  
"Um, who are you?" Akane asked.  
  
"You may call me Power Woman. And you, fellow, are the person I was told to find." She smirked superiorly. This kid was no threat.  
  
Far away, a uniformed man frowned as he looked at the screen which was showing her view to him. "Rei, do the pitch. If he starts to talk about being a hero, take him out and bring him back." Where had he seen that kid before, he thought to himself. He put his hand over the headset's microphone. "Hey, Hiro. Does this guy seem familiar?"  
  
Hiro looked up from his identical computer setup, which had a different view on it. "Shit! That's Ranma Saotome. The boys upstairs have been looking for him for almost a year, Kujo."  
  
"Saotome? Wasn't he exposed to the K virus?"  
  
"Yeah. Last I'd heard, he was probably some sort of null, no effect was apparent."  
  
"He's showed up as Class III. Pretty minor, really." Kujo started to tap onto his screen. Why were these readings so skewed and unstable?  
  
"How did he hide for so long? The Eye Sat can usually spot superhuman power use across the entire eastern hemisphere!"  
  
"I don't know and don't really care. What is up with these readings?"  
  
From behind him, another uniformed figure stepped up to take a look. The woman, pretty despite wearing green fatigues, frowned as she read the same information.  
  
"I'm here to make you a job offer that you can't refuse. We could use your help. It pays extremely well!" Power Woman smiled disarmingly. "I'd like you to come along, so that I can explain it in more detail."  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Sorry, not interested."  
  
Power Woman blinked in surprise. "Not even slightly?"  
  
"Nah. I need to..."  
  
Whatever he said was suddenly interrupted by his father landing on his head. This had the effect of smashing Ranma into the ground, face first. "Fool! I raised you to be better than that!" Genma turned, grinding Ranma's face into the ground. "Ignore my foolish son. Of course he accepts."  
  
The green clad super-powered individual looked at him in amazement. "Uh, really?"  
  
"Old man, you've pissed me off! Get off of me!" Ranma shouted, flinging his father high into the air. He shook off the dust on his face.  
  
"Aren't you worried about hurting him by throwing him like that?" Power Woman asked, staring off into the air after Genma.  
  
Akane snorted derisively. "Are you kidding? Happosai has thrown him further."  
  
"Who is... Happosai?" she asked. Was this some sort of superhuman that she wasn't aware of?  
  
Ranma started to appear nervous while he looked around. "Now you've gone and done it! You shouldn't have mentioned him..."  
  
"Hotcha! Woo hoo baby! Love the look!" a voice suddenly called out. The small, wizened figure attached itself to Power Woman's breasts, snuggling fiercely. "Oh, I'm in heaven."  
  
"Get off!" she shouted, grabbing the letch by his scruff. A furious scowl adorned her fair features. She flung him off in the same general direction as the other man. "I should have killed him for that!"  
  
Her attention was brought back to the pair on the ground in front of her when Akane punched Ranma into the ground. "Quit looking, you pervert!" Akane then turned back to her. "Um, you might want to close your top." She shook her smarting hand. Ouch.  
  
The woman blinked and then checked herself out. Now that it had been brought to her attention, her skin tight outfit had been unzipped. Blushing, she zipped it back up. "That was Happosai, I take it." Where had her sports bra gone?  
  
Akane nodded as she let Ranma up.  
  
Ranma, for his part was starting to wonder what was going on. He kept getting knocked around, but he really wasn't feeling the blows anymore.  
  
Power Woman smiled winsomely. "So what do you say, Ranma? It can't hurt to hear us out, can it?"  
  
"Look, I've got more important things right now. Maybe next week, okay?" Ranma was already thinking about what he needed for his training trip.  
  
She looked at him for one long second. "Sorry to hear that. I thought you were kind of cute. Now I'm going to have to smash in that pretty face." She suddenly zoomed in, throwing a high speed punch at Ranma's head, missing horribly.  
  
"Hey! What do you think you are doing?" Ranma asked, still dodging her punches.  
  
"I was told not to take no for an answer. Sorry. I kind of liked you. It's nothing personal." Damn, he was one slippery little bastard. He's got a lot more martial arts training than she'd expected. Her eyes started to glow, beams of pulsing blue-white light that slammed into Ranma like a freight train.  
  
"Oh..." Ranma mumbled, barely conscious.  
  
"Hey! You leave him alone!" his fiancée shouted, spinning a kick at her unprotected head. It smacked into it with little effect except to hurt her leg.  
  
Power Woman turned towards Akane, a smirk on her face. "You aren't any sort of threat, girl. Go home, before I hurt you."  
  
"Don't you dare hurt her!" Ranma shouted, pulling himself out of the wreckage of the stone wall that he'd collided with earlier. His earlier grogginess was suddenly gone in a surge of adrenaline. His Chinese shirt was totally shredded, leaving him in his sleeveless under shirt.  
  
"Still up, kid? Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't have to worry about anything." Her eyes pulsed again, sending out another wide concussive blast at him. She stopped blasting when she realized that he wasn't there.  
  
"Hiya!" Ranma cried out, slamming into her while throwing a whirling series of kicks and punches. His first few seemed to have no effect, but the last one sent her spinning, blood dripping from her split lip.  
  
She stood back up, shaking her head. Who was this kid? "Control, I might need some help here."  
  
Kujo, on the far side of the link, replied to her, "We hear you. If you can not subdue the target, you are to break off." He turned to look at the other controller. "Hiro, we've got a situation."  
  
"What now?" Hiro replied.  
  
Ranma stood at ease, his eyes alert and alive. Power Woman stomped her foot, transferring shockwaves across the ground and sending the boy sprawling. In a blink, she flew at him, swinging an even stronger punch at his face. At the last moment, he twisted and spun in the air, the blow missing by millimeters. Ranma's foot lashed out in a kick, shooting the older fighter high into the air.  
  
Holding her stomach, she stopped her flight. "Control, I thought you said he was a Class III? He certainly kicks like a Class II. With his training, I don't know how I'll be able to subdue him before someone shows up."  
  
She listened for a second. "I'll be back, Ranma Saotome." She flew off, becoming a green blur that disappeared in a thundering boom.  
  
"And I'll be ready for you!" Ranma yelled out bravely.  
  
"Ranma, what is going on?" Akane asked as she finally regained her feet. She had scrapes and cuts on her knees and hands.  
  
"I really don't know. Say, how did she know who I was?"  
  
A cute little pouty frown showed on her mouth. "I don't know."  
  
-  
  
Rei wiped the blood from her chin. "What the heck happened there? He was supposed to be some Class III punk, not a Class II." She shook her shoulder length black hair into place.  
  
"I don't know. The sensors are showing him as a Class II now. It doesn't make much sense. I'll have to inform the commander..."  
  
She snatched him up as easily as if he were a baby. "Don't you dare. I don't want to look the fool. We'll plan a different strategy and take him out tomorrow."  
  
"I don't know..." Kujo started to say,  
  
"Obviously. That's my job, now."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," he replied stiffly. This wasn't good, but he wouldn't be the one getting in trouble.  
  
-  
  
Ranma stretched at the breakfast table. "Thanks for the breakfast, Kasumi."  
  
"That's no problem, Ranma." Kasumi smiled brightly from her seat at the table.  
  
"What happened to you last night, Saotome?" Soun asked, looking over his battered old friend.  
  
"The boy got a lucky shot in. I'll be in tip top shape in a day or two," Genma pontificated.  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm not waiting for you, old man. I've got some serious retraining to do and don't have time to wait on your flabby behind to get better."  
  
"Flabby!?" Outraged, Genma reached over and grabbed Ranma, smoothly tossing Ranma across the yard into the koi pond.  
  
Ranma sputtered as she surfaced. "Now why did you go and do that for?"  
  
"Ranma, didn't you want to catch that train?" Akane spoke up suddenly, clad in her white gi with her own backpack on.  
  
"Is it time already?" she asked, looking over at the clock. "Yup! Time to go! I'll get you back for that later, old man!"  
  
The two disappeared thru the door in an eye blink.  
  
"It's so good to see them spending time with each other!" Nodoka said happily, walking in from the kitchen with more bowls of food.  
  
"She's right, you know!" Soun said. "Hmm. Hadn't somebody better go and watch over them?"  
  
"Hmm. You are correct, Tendo."  
  
"Actually, I think it is quite romantic of the two being off on their lonesome. It gives Ranma such an opportunity to prove his manliness to Akane!" Nodoka sighed, her heart a flutter at the thought.  
  
Nabiki, Kasumi, Soun and Genma all sweat dropped in sudden nervousness. How come they had a bad feeling about that?  
  
A thin, balding man in a suit stepped to the side as two girls ran down the road, heavy backs and martial arts gi's proclaiming their dedication. "Kids these days." He turned the street to walk over to a parked car. He tapped on the window, which promptly rolled down. "So, any sign of the boy?"  
  
"Not yet. I'm sure he'll show."  
  
-  
  
Ranma looked up at Akane, who was sleeping while leaning against the smaller girl. The run to the train station had worn her out, so she'd napped out for the hour or so it would take to leave the city. The announcement of their stop roused Ranma from her reverie.  
  
"Come on, sleepy head. This is our stop." She took a moment to shake the other girl and then grabbed both back packs, hefting them lightly.  
  
Akane followed, rubbing her eyes. They left the train station in the little town and headed off into the mountains.  
  
She found it hard, struggling to keep up, the red headed figure up ahead of her seemingly infatigable. By mid morning, they had finally reached Terror Peak again. This was one of Ranma's more favored training area, with rugged mountains and large forests. Yet it was also close enough to civilization so that it would take too long to get back if needed.  
  
Akane groaned and flopped on the ground. "Finally. I don't remember it being so rough to get here."  
  
"You're getting soft is all. You need to practice more!" Ranma said cheerfully. She put a thoughtful expression on. "Hmm. I need to figure out some way to regain control."  
  
"Well, why don't you first find out how hard you can punch and hit things?"  
  
"That's... not a bad idea!" Putting words into action, she walked up to a large boulder. "Hiya!" she cried out, smashing the boulder with all of her strength.  
  
The results, to say the least, were spectacular. Ranma stood with her fist outstretched at the center of a five foot crater, a swath of destruction all around her except for where her own body had shielded Akane behind her in a large 'V'. "Whoa. That was way more powerful than I expected."  
  
"Ranma! Are you alright?" Akane cried out from where she sat. She looked around in amazement.  
  
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Can't say the same for my clothes." She pulled at the remnants of her shirt and pants. About the only things that were left were her muscle shirt, the ragged remains of her boxers and her gi's belt.  
  
"Not even a scratch," Akane exclaimed in amazement. "How's that possible?"  
  
"I don't know. That's really... odd. Even by my standards." Ranma stood there for a moment, scratching her head in bewilderment.  
  
"So you're amazingly tough and incredibly strong. Can you think of anything else to test?"  
  
"Uh... yeah! Speed!" she proudly exclaimed.  
  
"Why don't you see how fast you can run. I can barely see you throwing punches most of the time anyways!"  
  
"Righty-o!" With that, she took off going up the mountain. As before, the ground started to blur beneath her feet. Concentrating harder, things began to be come clear, if still insanely fast. It was exhilarating.  
  
Akane watched Ranma's trail up the mountain, a dust plume easily visible. "...three, four! Wow! I didn't know anybody but the Flash that could run that fast!" She quit counting when she lost sight, the runner zipping around a trail at the top.  
  
Ranma wished she hadn't taken that curve at quite that speed, as she was now in freefall, headed towards the ground hundreds of feet below! "Oh, crud-crud-crud! I'm gonna splat!" she cried out, waving her arms frantically. Miraculously, she started to slow and then stop. Ranma blink- blinked at the ground a mere ten feet below her. "I'm flying?" she inquired, quite perplexed.  
  
With a slight thought, she nudged herself forward. In just a few moments, she was swooping and zooming around, gleefully smiling. Ranma had always dreamed of flying, instilled from the tenants of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.  
  
She didn't even notice when she shattered the sound barrier. It was such an amazing thing to actually fly!  
  
Left behind, Akane waited a few minutes and then decided that if Ranma wasn't coming back soon, she'd prepare lunch. Starting a fire, she started working on the one credible dish that she could make, curried fish and rice.  
  
She finally finished it, twenty painstaking minutes later, when a breeze almost overturned her dishes. "No!"  
  
"No what?" Ranma asked from behind her.  
  
"Nothing, really. Back finally? Where did you go?" she asked, handing her fiancé a bowl of food.  
  
"Uh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."  
  
"Try me!"  
  
"Hokkaido."  
  
"Really? But you aren't wet!" she exclaimed in surprise.  
  
"I, uh, didn't swim." She felt quite foolish. How do you tell someone you seem to have sprouted super powers?  
  
"Wow! You can run across water like the Flash?"  
  
"No, you dummy! I flew!"  
  
"You flew?"  
  
"That's what I said, didn't I?" Ranma blew a lock of hair out of her eyes.  
  
"There isn't a martial arts for that, is there?"  
  
"Not that I've heard of."  
  
They both chewed for a second. "You weren't bit by a radioactive bird were you?"  
  
"Huh? No!"  
  
"Your family isn't secretly mutants are they?" Akane asked seriously.  
  
"Not that anyone has told me. Pop is kind of ugly though."  
  
"I don't think that proves anything. You weren't secretly adopted and you're actually an alien from another world are you?"  
  
"What? Hell no!"  
  
"So what's left?"  
  
"Government conspiracy? Magic?" Something tried to impinge itself Ranma, some memory.  
  
"You didn't drink another potion from Shampoo did you?"  
  
The thought was disrupted. "What? Do you think I'm insane?"  
  
Akane glared back at the smaller girl. "Do you really want me to answer that?"  
  
"Hey!"  
  
Akane smiled sunnily. She loved it when she zinged Ranma. "So you can't remember anything that you've done recently that could have caused this?"  
  
"Nope. I was just laying out before Ryoga showed up wanting to kick my butt."  
  
"Well, you helped me find P-chan and tried to scald him with the hot water." Akane folded her arms, chin thrown out aggressively. She hadn't quite forgiven him for that.  
  
"I did not! You asked where he was, I told you!"  
  
"You had to know where he was! You told me without even searching!"  
  
"He was right behind the dojo, right where I... saw... him." Ranma's voice drifted off.  
  
Akane blinked. "You saw him?"  
  
"Yeah. Right thru the dojo, like it wasn't even there." How could she have spaced that?  
  
She snorted in response. "Yeah, right. Next you'll be telling me you really do have x-ray vision, just like Superman."  
  
"Well, what else could it be?"  
  
Akane rolled her eyes. "Why don't you prove it? Then maybe I'll believe that you didn't try to hurt my P-chan!"  
  
Ranma furrowed her brow in thought. "Ha! I know, I'll..." She blinked for a long moment. "You're still wearing those pink pokadotted panties?"  
  
"You pervert! How dare you use your x-ray vision to peep on me!" Akane cried out, jumping to her feet. She reached into her backpack and retrieved her trusty mallet. She'd thought she might need it! "Ranma, you dummy!"  
  
Ranma, for her part, winced and braced herself for the hit, expecting to be in quite a bit of pain. She felt the hit, but no pain. She cracked open one eye to see Akane drop her implement of retribution.  
  
"Owie! That hurts!" she cried out. The mallet lay on the ground, the head of it quite dented.  
  
"Oops. Forgot about that. Are you all right?" Ranma asked, standing up to gently take her hands and turn them over.  
  
Akane for her part let Ranma act. A blush started to creep up on her. This was so... intimate for them. The only thing that marred it was her stinging hands. "It's... nothing. I'm sure it'll fade."  
  
Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "Good! I couldn't have taken you getting hurt... again or anything."  
  
Akane glared for a moment, the reminder of Jusendo and the wedding stabbing at her heart. "Well, don't you dare even think about peeping on me again!" A thought occurred to her suddenly. "Say, Ranma, do you think you have heat vision like Superman, too?"  
  
"How would I know?"  
  
"Well, duh, you have to try, lame brain."  
  
Ranma shot her a nasty glare and then moved the glare to a rock. Nothing happened for a long moment and then a beam of light shot out and pushed the rock away. "Wow!"  
  
"That wasn't right! It's supposed to melt, not bounce!"  
  
"Hey! This isn't easy, you know!" She tried again, imagining it melting, not being hit. Twice more her vision blasted it with little flickering beams. Finally, her vision turned red and warmed up a spot on the rock, causing it to glow. "Ha!"  
  
"So... does this mean you're Superman's son?"  
  
"I suppose it could be. Doesn't seem quite right." She shrugged and took a moment to grab the kettle out of the fire and tip it over her head. Her figure blurred, leaving him behind.  
  
"You don't think your mom would do that?"  
  
"Nah, I don't think Superman would do that! It just doesn't seem like something he would ever do."  
  
"Hmm. Good point."  
  
-  
  
The rioters had finally broken through the police barricade around the parliament building. Cries for freedom from western slavery were chanted on everyone's lips. The wind was blowing on a new political direction, new leadership.  
  
A sudden wind blew over them, almost sending people tumbling. In front of the main doors, a group of distinctive and highly recognizable figures appeared.  
  
Martian Manhunter.  
  
Plastic Man.  
  
Wonder Woman.  
  
Aquaman.  
  
Green Lantern.  
  
The Flash.  
  
And Superman.  
  
Merely being in their presence slowed the mob to a halt. Superman took a step forward. "Please, this riot is not solving anything with its violence." His earnestness touched the heart of many.  
  
A tall, slightly stocky figure suddenly stepped up. He was wearing ornate robes of archaic Japanese style. "So the lackeys of the Americans show up finally! Take you foreign filth out of our proud country!"  
  
"We do not answer to..."  
  
"They call themselves the Justice League of America! Where is the Justice League of Asia? Why must we always bow to western imperialism?" he shouted loudly. "What gives them the right to interfere with our internal problems when they ignore true despots across the world?"  
  
"What?" Superman was truly flabbergasted. Behind him, the rest of the Justice League looked on in surprise.  
  
"I'll tell you why! It's because they are the Justice... League... of America! Looking down upon us from on high! Their American President tells them what to do! They want a compliant, corrupt Japan, not a pure, strong Japan!"  
  
Superman looked on, a stern expression on his visage.  
  
"JLA go home! JLA go home!" the crowd started to chant.  
  
From a nearby shadow, eyes narrowed in thought. His thinking was suddenly disrupted when his darkness was dispelled.  
  
"Don't think that we forgot you, Batman," a woman's voice called out from overhead, where she'd bent a spotlight to point at him. Power Woman radiated strength, power and a cocky grin.  
  
"Who are you?" the dark knight asked.  
  
"Who we are doesn't concern you, but you may call us the Japanese Elite! We bring Japan back to its true glory, wrestling it from the grasp of greedy Americans. I've sworn my undying loyalty to that promise!" she cried out, her voice wholly into what she spoke.  
  
"So what will you do now, Justice League? Why don't you listen to the voice of the people? Or are you too high and mighty to follow what you preach?" the spokesman for the mob called out. Behind him the mob had kept up the chant.  
  
Superman glared at the man for a second. "We'll be watching you for anything unusual. We won't interfere with the politics here, but we won't stand for such basic criminal acts such as murder or robbery."  
  
"That is all we ask. We are not barbarians, after all. We just wish to change our corrupt government."  
  
With that, the JLA took to the air, Green Lantern assisting those who couldn't fly by themselves. Plastic Man was the first to speak up, his head turning into a question mark. "So, Supes, what are we going to do?"  
  
"We are going to watch. That's all we can do."  
  
Batman had an intense frown on his face. "I don't like this. Something doesn't make sense."  
  
Wonder Woman grinned mirthlessly. "At least the Prime Minister and his cabinet were already evacuated."  
  
Superman nodded, gazing across the city. "The JSDF is on its way. We'll just have to see what happens."  
  
-  
  
Ranma leaned up against a log, idly flicking pebbles across the campsite. He'd found this the easiest way to help regain some of his control. Akane was running thru her own exercises, fists pounding on a large tree.  
  
"Heh, heh. It took me long enough to find you, fem-boy. You'd think you were running away," a familiar sarcastic figure said, stepping out from the forest. His green, scaled shirt and loose pantaloons were unmistakable. As was his attitude. He held one hand behind him, hidden away.  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes up, as if asking, 'why me?' "What do you want, Pantyhose?"  
  
Taro's mouth twisted into a snarl. How could that one comment from this sex- changing freak anger him so? "I'm here to beat you up."  
  
"Again? Can't you get another tune?" Ranma bounced to his feet, worries forgotten in the face a known adversary.  
  
"Nobody here to save you this time. And this time, I'll get my name changed for sure!"  
  
Ranma suddenly remembered his boosted strength. "Uh... Like that has ever worked. Pantyhose, I don't really want to fight you."  
  
"I don't care what you want. Happosai wrote me a contract. I deliver you to him trussed up and dressed up... as a girl... and he'll change my name to whatever I want."  
  
"And you're actually going along with this? I thought you were a moron before, but this takes the cake."  
  
Taro produced a bucket of water, slopping some of it onto himself. "Heh. Heh."  
  
"Pantyhose, this is a big mistake. I don't want to hurt you."  
  
"Ranma!" Akane finally cried out from the sidelines of the confrontation.  
  
Taro stepped forward one huge step, his monstrous hooves crushing twigs beneath him. His wing and tentacle writhed in anticipation. The Jusenkyo monster lashed with a punch, his whole body flowing with the attack.  
  
Ranma let himself be slammed backwards, ripping right through some bushes and snapping tree limbs. He had felt that a bit more than Akane's hammer, but not greatly more. "Hey! Why aren't you listening to me?"  
  
"Heh. Heh." Without pausing, the minotaur-hybred creature snatched Ranma up with his four octopus tentacles. Without pause, he started to squeeze while his too small crane wings lifted him into the air.  
  
Ranma felt a momentary flash of panic. He didn't have to worry about being dropped. So far, this was a bit like wrestling with his dad.  
  
Down below, Happosai chortled loudly. "Bwahaha! I'll get my revenge for a pittance! And I'll finally get to see Ranma in this teddy that I bought!" As if by magic, he procured a very sheer little black negligee.  
  
"Ranma would rather die than wear that!" Akane exclaimed, blushing at the proffered underwear.  
  
"I'll crush his ego so he can finally learn what it means to be my student!"  
  
Far up in the sky, Ranma was starting to get bored. "Are you done yet, Pantyhose?" He showed no signs of discomfort to his foe. To be quite truthful, he seemed to be getting stronger by the hour. It worried him a bit. How was he supposed to be a martial artist if he could be hurt and any punch would lay his foe down?  
  
"Heh. Heh?" Taro narrowed his eyes in thought. His off hand splashed Ranma with the remainder of the water from the pail, releasing it to fall to the ground far below.  
  
"Hey! Why'd you do that, you jerk?"  
  
Ranma got her answer a moment later, as both gigantic hands clapped together on her head, even as the tentacles squeezed tighter. In response, Ranma shook her head to shake off the momentary daze. Even as she did, she was flung at the ground hundreds of feet below.  
  
"Whoa! Aaah! Why am I screaming?" The girl stopped in an instant, the large creature zooming past her.  
  
Taro turned to look over her shoulder, banking to head back towards the incongruously floating martial artists. He poured on the speed, attempting to slam into the much smaller target. As easily a hummingbird, Ranma flew backwards, right in front of the fist. The older boy started to get an odd feeling of worry. Where had this ability come from?  
  
Ranma glanced down a second to check on Akane. The red-head suddenly stopped abruptly, the Jusenkyo Terror bouncing off of her like a bug slamming into a windshield. "Akane!" she cried, suddenly rocketing towards the ground.  
  
"Stay back!" Akane commanded bravely, trying to hide her terror at the diminutive master of the Anything Goes School. He had backed her up against a tree.  
  
"Why, Akane, I just want to get to know you better! Please, let an old man comfort himself in his last dying days!" Happosai was radiating lust even as he rubbed his hands together, his stubby legs slowly advancing him towards his victim. He suddenly looked into the air, surprised to see a rapidly approaching martial artist heading towards him.  
  
Ranma slammed into the ground with the force of a grenade. "Stay away from her, you creep!" Happosai had ducked at the last moment and the force of the blast had been directed away from Akane.  
  
"Ranma, how dare you interrupt me! I've taken enough abuse from you!" Happosai cried out with a righteously indignant voice.  
  
"I'll dare more if you lay a finger on Akane!" Ranma had always held a bit of fear for the old man. Not enough to stop her, by any means. But Happosai had hit her with the weakness moxibustion, stealing all of her strength. Even with the new powers, Happosai might still do something like that.  
  
A large firecracker appeared in his hand, the fuse already lit. "I won't let you stop me this time."  
  
Ranma ignored the bomb as it was thrown at her, letting it detonate.  
  
BOOM!  
  
"Wa ha ha! I got 'em! Now there's nobody to stop me!"  
  
Faster than his eyes could follow, a hand emerged from the blast, grabbing him about the neck. "Wrong, I've got you!"  
  
That wasn't supposed to happen. He brandished he iron pipe suddenly, spinning it like a baton. With stunning force, he brought it down on the weak wrists that were holding him.  
  
"That actually stung, you know," Ranma said conversationally.  
  
"Ranma, you've become a true paragon of the Art now. You've surpassed my expectations of you," Happi said cheerfully, his eyes becoming large and innocent.  
  
She looked at the ancient martial artist in suspicion. "You're just trying to distract me, aren't you?"  
  
Happosai nodded. "Yup."  
  
"Ranma! Behind you!" Akane called out. Ranma was doing uncommonly well.  
  
Ranma turned to see Taro rocketing towards her, prepared to skewer her on sharpened horns. With her head turned, Happosai attempted to break free. He had no desire to get caught up in the impact! His eyes nearly bugged out of his head as Ranma held up her other hand, palm first even as her iron grip on him didn't weaken in the slightest.  
  
With all of the power of a runaway truck, Taro hit slammed into the immovable object known as Ranma's hand. Arms, legs, tentacles and wings snapped past Ranma, trying to continue on the momentous passage, only stopping because Taro's head stayed attached to his body, both stopped by the fragile seeming red haired girl in the ruined rags of a gi. Taro slumped to the ground in a resounding thud.  
  
"I have got to admit, that's rather impressive. He's totally out of it," Happosai said in that infuriatingly calm tone that teachers use on their students.  
  
"That's... right." Ranma's blue eyes shifted back to Happosai, who suddenly started sweating nervously. "I don't want you coming back this time, Happosai."  
  
"What are you going to do, kill me?"  
  
"Nah." She released her captive to fall to the ground. Even as Happosai prepared to touch down, her forward foot pivoting, the hind leg building up a massive side kick. "I'm just gonna kick you all the way to China!"  
  
"Wha...?" Happi was silenced by Ranma's kick breaking the sound barrier. He barely felt anything as he was rocketed away, high into the stratosphere.  
  
"Heh. I shouldn't have to deal with him for a while." Ranma brushed the dust off of her hands.  
  
Akane trotted up, looking at the bruised pile of odd creature parts. "What are you going to do with him?"  
  
"He's probably already awake. His cursed form is really resilient."  
  
As if in answer to that statement, Taro cracked an eye open to peek at the two girls. He blinked in surprise when Ranma blurred away faster than he could follow and reappeared with a steaming bucket of water.  
  
"Yow! That's hot!" Taro glared at Ranma, even as she poured the rest of the water over her head. "Okay, how did you pull this stunt off?"  
  
"Don't know. I just got real powerful, yesterday. I could have really hurt you, you know."  
  
"I kind of figured. Don't worry, I'll find some way to negate your new strength and defeat you like normal."  
  
"How come you're always unconscious first then?" Ranma quipped.  
  
"Shut up!" Taro shouted, even as he stormed off.  
  
-  
  
Akane watched as the angry young man walked off. She waited to turn to talk until he was far out of sight. "Do you think you've trained enough?"  
  
"Yeah, well, I didn't really hurt Taro much, did I?" Ranma sighed even as he plunked down on the ground next to the remains of the fire.  
  
Akane asked curiously, "What's wrong?"  
  
"It isn't right. It wasn't me that defeated those two, it was these stupid powers!" Ranma snapped out. "How can I be a martial artist if no one is a challenge anymore?"  
  
"I don't know. I'm sure you'll figure something out! You always do!" Akane giggled suddenly. "At least you don't have to be worried about being bullied by anyone."  
  
From farther away than the two teenagers could believe, a pair of blue eyes watched them intently. There were definite signs of some sort of genetic alteration, but from who and for what purposes, he could not determine. Superman had been worried for a second, afraid that this young boy had become a murderer with an incredible mental ease that worried him.  
  
But both of his attackers had already mostly recovered, the old man in mid air, already planning some sort of revenge, hardly concerned about such petty matters as his ballistic trajectory took him into China.  
  
"I am going to make contact with this new metahuman now, J'onn."  
  
'I hear you. The rest of the JLA will continue our own investigations.' An incredibly ordinary looking Japanese boy walked down the road just a few blocks away from the rioting going on. He was in the process of following the charismatic leader of the rioting.  
  
Ranma turned when he felt a powerful presence approaching at high speeds. It didn't feel threatening, but it was always safe to be sure. Ranma blinked in surprise, Akane following suit as they both took in the appearance of the world's premiere superhero.  
  
"Excuse me, but I think you might be able to help me, young man." Superman looked over them at close quarters. Just teenagers, at least outwards appearing.  
  
"Superman? Ah, sure! No problem!" Ranma babbled out. Wow, he was much more imposing in real life than on TV.  
  
"Thank you. I appreciate your cooperation. If you'll follow me? It should only take a few hours at the most."  
  
"Right. Akane?" he asked his fiancée with just his tone.  
  
"Unlike you, I've still got some training to do. Nobody's interested in me, so why don't you go on ahead?"  
  
"Follow me, kid!" With that, Superman flew off into the air. He turned to see the younger man following his lead easily. "What is your name?"  
  
"I'm Ranma Saotome! Pleased to meet you! This is really neat! I've always dreamed of flying!"  
  
Talking became impossible as they flew off faster than the speed of sound, still accelerating. Minutes later, they were landing in a large metropolitan area. The large complex spoke of the military and scientist, Ranma thought to himself. Now, why did it feel so familiar?  
  
Superman led him into a large secured room, a strange tube that glowed with green light dominating the entire area.  
  
A technician walked up and said something in English that the boy couldn't follow. Superman gestured towards the tube. "The teleporter is set, please step on through."  
  
Ranma shrugged and stepped through. He blinked in surprise at the ultramodern room. The teleporter flashed behind him again. Superman stepped thru lightly.  
  
"Welcome to the Watchtower. Please, follow me." Superman turned and walked off.  
  
"You said you needed my help with something?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Yes. We ran into a 'Power Woman' that had signs of genetic alteration, similar to yours. We were curious were you had gotten them."  
  
"I, uh, really don't know. I just started getting these powers the other day. I don't remember doing anything different." The young man paused to look at the Earth in the sky. "Wow!"  
  
"Nothing at all?"  
  
"Nope. I was just laying out, getting some sun and I saw through the dojo. Then I got into a fight and in the middle of it, I suddenly tingled and almost collapsed. That's when I started to find out how tough and strong I'd gotten." Ranma shuddered a second. "I hurt Ryoga pretty bad. Luckily, he's tough and he's going to get better."  
  
Superman looked at him, checking his heartbeat with his hearing. He wasn't lying. "That's very... odd, to say the least. That was almost identical to how I found out about my powers."  
  
"Huh? I thought you always had super powers?"  
  
"No. But I don't dispel that common misconception either. I had a normal childhood. I didn't develop powers until I was your age, maybe just a bit older."  
  
"Really? But I'd heard you were an alien?"  
  
"That's true."  
  
"So what about me? I'm human, aren't I?"  
  
"As far as I can tell. Your genetics is human, but altered." Superman opened the door in front of him, leading them into a laboratory.  
  
Ranma looked around. "Altered?" That made him think. Where had he heard that before.  
  
Superman shrugged. He motioned Ranma to lay down on the table, which Ranma did automatically.  
  
"That's it! I remember something now! I got hurt a year or two ago, during the training trip. Pop took me to some military base in Hokkaido. There was some weird nutso there talking about fixing me up better than before."  
  
"Hokkaido? Anything else?"  
  
"Nah. The only other thing I remember is that Pop had to spring me and it wasn't long before we had to get out of the country."  
  
Superman stared at the screens for a moment. Something about that pattern tugged at his memory. That couldn't be, could it? He'd have to check it personally, later. "Do you mind if we check out your powers a bit more thoroughly?"  
  
"No problem! How do we do that?"  
  
"We'll spar and the Watchtower sensors will do the rest."  
  
"Aren't you afraid of breaking things?"  
  
"Outside?"  
  
-  
  
This had to be insane, Ranma thought to himself. He just couldn't be standing on the Moon's surface, holding his breath! But Superman had said they were going to fight and Ranma Saotome never backed down from a fight.  
  
Superman stood over three hundred feet, holding up his hand. With a chopping motion, he signaled the start of the fight. He'd try to push the boy as hard as possible without hurting him. Superman snapped toward him with a burst of super speed, launching a light punch at his jaw.  
  
For his efforts, he nearly got his head handed to him as Ranma dodged the blow effortlessly. His movements were smooth, deadly and fast! Superman hadn't had the chance to slow down from his burst of super speed, a speed this boy was matching easily.  
  
Time to up the ante, he thought to himself. He blasted Ranma with a burst of heat vision, sending him staggering. Not letting up, Superman through a double-handed blow that slammed into the younger man, sending him skidding along the ground and thru a few boulders.  
  
Ranma barely recovered in time to block the next few attacks. He tried to blast Superman with his own heat vision, but missed horribly, the older fighter seeming to know where it was going to strike. His own head was suddenly engulfed in a block of ice as Superman puffed a breath of super cold air at him.  
  
Ranma rolled with the next punch that struck his head, letting it shatter the ice and spinning to the side. Superman had the advantage, knowing how to use his powers in this sort of fight. He'd have to do something different to win! With a burst of even faster speed, he dodged backwards while cupping his hands.  
  
Superman blinked as Ranma started to glow a bright blue, an incandescent light forming in his hands. What sort of super power was this? He barely dodged to the side as the young man threw a beam of force at him. Even at the edges of it, it still slammed him hard.  
  
Ranma gaped at the divot he'd made in the mountainside. That cost him, as Superman's fist rattled him hard, ending the fight.  
  
"Dang," Ranma muttered moments later in the airlock.  
  
"Actually, you did very well. I'm quite impressed. You'll be quite the fighter once you get the hang of your powers. That blast you did with your hands nearly caught me by surprise."  
  
"Huh? Oh, that. Just a ki blast. I've been able to do that for a while. Tho' it wasn't that powerful before I got these powers."  
  
"You could do that before? So that was a martial arts move?" Superman thought aloud.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Superman. The Japanese Elite want to speak to Ranma," a guttural said from the shadows.  
  
"What?"  
  
Batman stepped out of the shadows, his mere presence setting Ranma on edge. There was something dark and scary about that man. "Follow me."  
  
"Ah, Superman. Ranma Saotome. We have been looking for you for a long time now. It is good to see you blossom into a true warrior of this day and age." The face looking down from the screen was the same as from the riots yesterday. He was still wearing the archaic robes.  
  
"Who are you?" Superman demanded. Behind him, Batman stuck to the shadows, watching intently.  
  
"I am the Spirit of Japan, Superman. I am the leader of the Japanese Elite. And we are the precursor to the new future of Japan. No longer must we cater to corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen. We shall become the warriors that the world fears."  
  
"What do you want with this boy?"  
  
"I wish to see if Ranma is a true Japanese." With a rough movement, the Spirit of Japan pulled a young woman into the camera's view. "Join us Ranma, as we lead Japan into a new future of greatness."  
  
"Ranma!" Akane cried out just before the camera shut off.  
  
"Akane!" he cried out it in response. His expression turned grim as he spun about.  
  
"It's a trap," Batman said suddenly.  
  
"It don't matter. I've gotta go."  
  
"I can't let you leave yet!" the Dark Knight replied coldly. "I've already shut off the teleporter."  
  
Ranma's expression matched his intensity. "Get outta my way."  
  
"I didn't want to do this-ooof!" Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by a powerful blow to his chest, robbing him of breath and stunning him.  
  
Ranma disappeared in a blur, going so fast that he left afterimages of himself behind. On his way out the building, he tore through the airlock like it didn't exist.  
  
"Great Scott!" Superman cried out, even as the Watchtower sealed up behind him.  
  
"Damn. He's fast. I didn't even have time to try the Green Kryptonite." Batman stared off into space through the monitors.  
  
"What?" Superman cried out in surprise.  
  
"Jon reported to me that the laboratory has records concerning modifying the human genome to mimic Kryptonian powers.  
  
"So what does that really mean?"  
  
"We could be facing a group of Supermen."  
  
-  
  
Ranma screamed through the void at an unchecked pace. He hit the outer atmosphere hard, the air screaming like the sun on fire to get out of his way. His eyes narrowed, looking past the blazing ball of superheated gasses around him.  
  
The new shooting star stopped over Tokyo, awing those who viewed it. "Where are you?" Ranma screamed out. In front of him rose up a red star.  
  
"Ranma Saotome! If you wish to see your fiancée, come with me!" said the red garbed man. With that abrupt pronouncement, he turned and rocketed towards the parliament building. The two of them lightly landed and entered.  
  
"Ah. Ranma Saotome. Heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. It is good to meet you. I am Kaji, the Spirit of Japan as I call myself."  
  
"Uh, okay."  
  
"Will you join us in liberating Japan from under the heel of foreign oppression?"  
  
"I guess so." Ranma was looking around the building, sighing in relief when he spotted Akane fuming in a locked room.  
  
"Good. You, go bring the girl here." Kaji stood up, walking outside onto a balcony. "Japan has become weak in this day and age, Ranma. We need all of our warriors to wrest her back on the path of righteousness and power."  
  
"Yeah, I heard Mr. Tendo bemoaning the state of things one day. Didn't really seem too important to me, but I'm just a kid.  
  
"You are far more than that now, my young friend." Kaji waved to the crowd behind him of costumed Japanese people. "Each of these men and women share in my dream and are willing to die for it. Are you?"  
  
"Well, I care about Japan, but I'm not too sure about anything else. Heck, I just got these stupid powers."  
  
"Ranma! You're here!" Akane cried out.  
  
"Of course, dummy!"  
  
"Will you join us, Ranma Saotome?"  
  
A panicked look crossed his face. There was no way that he could protect Akane right now. "Uh, sure."  
  
"Good! Let the world tremble!"  
  
"Spirit! China has just declared war on us!" Power Woman called out as she stepped into the room. "They just told the UN Assembly that they fear what we'll become under your leadership."  
  
Kaji turned to look to the far west. "Already they send their planes against us." His face tightened, tense and angry all at the same time. "They dare? They dare?! They dare send their nuclear bombs against us?" He spun around to tell his subordinates to deal with the attackers when a thundering boom shook the whole room. He turned around just in time to see shards of glass and steel from the windows arc into the sky. "Who?"  
  
"That was Saotome!"  
  
Kaji's face became bleak. He himself was a Class I metahuman and could barely succeed at that sort of speed. His vision turned to look through the walls, to see the ragged clothed figure already among the jets that were flying escort among the bombers. "Impossible!"  
  
"Nothing is impossible for Ranma!" Akane declared.  
  
"Really?" the leader of the Japanese Elite said sardonically.  
  
"He's the greatest martial artist that's ever lived."  
  
"A true martial artist? Hardly, I think."  
  
"He is! He can't even bring himself to fight those that are too weak!"  
  
Kuja's face clouded. "That is... too bad. I have no need or place for such a weak fool."  
  
"What? Ranma weak? You idiot! You don't know him in the slightest!" Akane stated loudly, a touch of pride for Ranma in her voice.  
  
He stared at her for a second, trying to see something deep within her eyes. "And he would do anything, for you, wouldn't he?"  
  
The young girl's face flushed bright scarlet, irritation and embarrassment evident in equal shares. "No! That dummy can't get anything right!"  
  
"Terrible, that." His hand lashed out, slapping her with amazing force. Her body flung through the air to smash into a wall and land in a heap, dribbles of blood starting to seep through her clothing from her shattered body. "Terrible."  
  
-  
  
Ranma ducked and weaved in between missiles and MiG's, a dangerous dance. He suddenly zipped through a hole in their defensive line. Before him flew two bombers, their doors already swinging open. He smashed into the first one, breaking the plane right at its main wings. A scant moment later, it exploded fierily. He was swinging around to smash the second one when it launched a large missile.  
  
"NO!" Ranma screamed, smashing the second bomber. Hardly even noting the planes destruction, he suddenly flew faster than he ever had before after the cruise missile.  
  
His eyes suddenly glowed red, sending out beams of crimson energy against he missile. He was shocked when it merely started to glow, the tiles on it shielding it from the heat. Without a pause, he pushed himself even faster.  
  
When he reached out to grab it, he was startled to feel some sort of field stopping him. With a snarl of concentration, he pushed against the barrier, up and higher. Slowly the missile changed its course, heading up into the air. With a massive heave, he threw it out of the atmosphere, just moments before it exploded.  
  
From the ground, the eyes of Tokyo looked upward to see a short lived star in the daylight sky. The crowd murmured, even as car and lights flickered out, plunging Tokyo into a short dark age.  
  
"He survived! Even being that close, he still survived!" the Crimson Sun shouted, looking up into the sky. His red and white costume was emblazoned with the true symbol of Japan, the rising sun.  
  
"I can see that. He is wounded, ripe for the pickings." The Spirit of Japan smiled mirthlessly. Just as he'd planned.  
  
High up in the air, Ranma shook his head and looked back to where the Japanese Elite were. His face went slack in shock, unable to believe what he saw. "NOOOOOO!" he screamed, so loud that all of Tokyo heard him.  
  
"Here he comes," Crimson Sun shouted in alarm.  
  
With a snap, he appeared in front of the wrecked windows. "How... Why... What had she ever done to you?" Ranma cried out.  
  
"Kill him!" Kaji shouted out, following his own command with his heat vision.  
  
The assembled superhumans struck as one, slamming differing attacks into the stunned martial artist. After a moment, they stopped their attack, leaving a smoking figure laying on the ground.  
  
"So ends the threat of the 'martial artist'." The Spirit of Japan spat on the ground and turned to walk off.  
  
The figure groaned and pulled itself upright. "I-I'm not dead yet, bastard," Ranma snarled, anger and adrenaline surging past the pain of his burns and bruises. His aura lit into the visible spectrum, his hand cupping next to his midsection, a particle of pure sunlight growing within its space.  
  
"Impossible!" the leader of the Japanese Elite shouted.  
  
"I'll see you in hell!" Ranma screamed, lashing out with a flattened ki blast and heat vision. Four of the Japanese Elite were cut in half by the ki attack, barely slowing the blast before it disintegrated the walls behind them. Shards of glass were found as far away as the waterfront. Six more were almost atomized by the blast of heat vision. A heat so intense, that the concrete behind them caught fire.  
  
The Japanese Elite struck back futilely; punches, kicks and beams of energy missing by the barest margins.  
  
-  
  
High up in the JLA, the gathered superheroes turned to a newly activated screen. All except Superman, who was looking directly on the scene.  
  
"What's going on down there? It's looking like World War III!" the Flash exclaimed.  
  
"My God, I've never seen such a vicious fight. He's killing them. He's killing all of them!" Superman exclaimed.  
  
"Who?" Wonder Woman asked intently.  
  
"Saotome. They killed his girl friend and he's killing all of them!"  
  
"All of them? I thought they were all just about as powerful as you?" Green Lantern exclaimed. He looked down at his power ring, thinking about how it was a good thing he just recharged it.  
  
"He's adapting to his super powers and increased fighting ability at an incredible pace. I can barely go that fast myself!" Superman declared.  
  
"We need to get down there and take control of the situation. Superman, stay here until we need you. Green Lantern, your in charge of getting us there now!" Batman commanded, even as he slipped out a small, lead box.  
  
-  
  
Power Woman cried in pain, holding her shattered left arm carefully. She was the last Class II left alive, all of the others were dead already. That left the three Class I's. Whitefire, another successful survivor of the K Serum and Voltais, a man with the power to disintegrate mountains with his violet hand blasts were all that was left of the Japanese Elite, other than their leader.  
  
"You fool! You've destroyed Japan's last chance at greatness!" the Spirit of Japan shouted, his heat vision melting a path behind the blurring martial artist.  
  
"He's too fast!" Whitefire shouted, just before his jaw was shattered, the blow smashing him into the stratosphere.  
  
"This ends, now!" commanded a voice that spoke of the darkness of the coldest shadows. Behind Batman, the rest of the JLA spread out. On his finger, a glowing green ring set an odd counterpart to the Green Lantern's ring.  
  
Waves of weakness beamed from the ring of kryptonite, sending all but one of the Japanese to their knees.  
  
Kaji snarled out, "Voltais, kill Saotome! Now!" With great determination, he tried to struggle to his feet.  
  
Blindly obedient, the purple and black clad Voltais raised his hands, electric purple lightning flying towards the weakly struggling Ranma.  
  
"Oh, no you don't!" Green Lantern called out, blasting with his ring.  
  
Voltais shrugged of the emerald attack, focusing even more on destroying the young man in front of him. "Die for the glory of Japan!"  
  
The blinding lightning grew to an intolerable brilliance. With a shattering boom, the entire building shook.  
  
Aquaman slammed into Voltais, his deep sea muscles striking as hard as diesel trucks. A moment later, twin Amazonian fists crushed his nose flat. The Martian Manhunter finished the fight with a massive uppercut that flung the unconscious body into the sky.  
  
"It's over, Kaji. Your insanity ends here, before it can destroy the world." The Batman walked up to the semiconscious mastermind.  
  
"I'll never give up! Never!" he spat out weakly in response.  
  
With a single blow, Batman knocked him into unconsciousness. Behind him, Plastic Man looked over the many crushed bodies, many burnt beyond recognition. His face looked almost comically sad. "I... it's sad, you know?"  
  
"We know, Plas. So many lives destroyed. More lives than should ever have been ruined in the name of pride," the Flash said.  
  
With a crack of thunder, the skies let loose a torrent of rain that drowned the city in sorrow.  
  
-  
  
"Ranma!" she cried. A green aura encompassed him.  
  
Ranma reflexively inhaled as air became available. It had been such a long time. With air, came coughing. Who was that, trying to talk to him?"  
  
Akane threw off her mask. "Oh, Gods, I thought he'd killed you!" The mask dissolved into the void.  
  
"Huh? Akane?" She was alive? But he'd thought that... His thinking was interrupted by her throwing herself into a tight hug. Ranma smiled, his heart relaxing. He must have been mistaken. He started to blink, his eyes starting to come into focus. His regenerative powers had also increased, so even now, his burns were fading.  
  
"Yes, you silly. Now we have to get out of here. Wherever here is, anyways." Great. How?  
  
Ranma glanced around, seeing absolutely nothing for as far as he could see. "Where are we? All I remember is getting blasted and thinking I was going to die!"  
  
"I've got it!" Akane crowed suddenly. 'Ring, take me to Japan by the fastest means possible!' Her willpower surged, green energy flaring in response. Someplace Ranma and I can be happy, she hoped. Where we can fit in.  
  
"Huh? Where did you get...?" Ranma started to ask, when the void around them turned into a rainbow of coruscating colors, seemingly traveling around them like they were in an immense tunnel. With a burst of light, they appeared above a forest.  
  
"Where are we?" Akane asked, spinning around in the air, trying to see a familiar sight. Ranma tumbled to the ground lightly, five feet below.  
  
"Say, what are you doing in that Green Lantern getup?" Ranma asked, turning his head to look at her closely.  
  
"Dummy! I am Green Lantern, now!" 


	2. Here comes Akane!

Emerald Destiny  
  
"I should have done this a long time ago, Sinestro!" the middle aged man in the green and black uniform spat into the face of his near-human adversary. His brown hair had sideburns of gray now, but his body still showed the strength it possessed when he was younger.  
  
Sinestro merely tried to grunt, but the chokehold that he was being held in didn't make that possible. The maroon-colored alien tried to break free. Suddenly he felt his foe's free hand start to apply pressure to twist his head at a sideways angle.  
  
CRACK. The sound carried far on the alien world, under the unearthly night sky with far too many stars that almost illuminated the area as if in daylight.  
  
The grim-faced human looked down on the greatest foe that the Green Lanterns had ever known. A mockery, wearing the proud green, black and white of the Corps again. Resurrected just to fight him. Merely because he acted on his grief, his loss. His face twisted in anger as he pulled off the jade ring on his finger, dropping it to the ground.  
  
He barely spared a glance at the diminutive blue aliens grouped together, talking and not taking action. In front of him, a gigantic metal lantern, carved as if from one shiny green metal ingot. Energy leaked from it, spreading an emerald hue on him.  
  
As if ordained by destiny, he entered into it and disappeared.  
  
"Our course of action is clear," said the first Guardian of the universe.  
  
"Who shall we choose?" asked another of the blue skinned, white haired diminutive humanoids.  
  
"Guanthet!" said a third.  
  
"So it is decided."  
  
"Wait!" the surprised Guanthet exclaimed.  
  
Without warning, light erupted from the twenty foot tall lantern, glowing brighter and brighter, until the statuesque symbol of the Green Lantern Corps exploded.  
  
From the wreckage strode the human. His colors were still green and black, but no longer was the proud lantern symbol worn. His impassive gaze swept to the drained and obviously dead 'Guardians'. A glint of metallic jade caught his attention.  
  
A single step crushed his discarded ring. Without a further word, his power flung him into the air, faster and faster. He was now the last master of the emerald energy.  
  
And he had many things, many wrongs to fix. Now that he had the power.  
  
Moments after he had left, a single blue skinned figure crawled from the pile of lifeless corpses that had given their lives to save him.  
  
Guanthet narrowed his eyes in thought. He floated towards the shattered ring, scooping it up. With a mere moments concentration, he refashioned it into a new ring. Different and new. A moment later he disappeared, becoming a streak of blue light that traversed the distance between stars as easily as a normal person would walk down a sidewalk.  
  
-  
  
Switch now to a different locale and the young girl sitting on the back steps of a traditional Japanese dojo. Her short hair and sweat covered gi spoke volumes of her untraditional outlook on life, mixed equally with a proud tradition as evidenced by the traditional dojo.  
  
A cute pout was the most prominent feature on her face. In the night sky above her, a falling star lit up the area for just a moment, veering toward her.  
  
The bright light illuminated the area, showing a very small man with blue skin and wearing a red robe. "You will have to do."  
  
Akane Tendo blinked in astonishment as she took the proffered ring. "Uh, okay. Do what?"  
  
"What must be done. There are many things that must be done to protect our universe against Jordan." And with that, he disappeared in another flash of light.  
  
"I have to be dreaming." Or I ate some of my own cooking, she thought with a frown. I was so sure it was going to be right this time!  
  
"Akane! Are you all right?" a panicked teen boy shouted as he bounded through the open door, looking around frantically.  
  
"Of course I am!" Akane snapped, her earlier irritation rising up. "You don't have to watch over me all the time!"  
  
"What? I ain't doing nothing of the sort! I just thought somebody had kidnapped you again!" Ranma snapped.  
  
"I'm not helpless! I can defend myself, you know, Ranma!"  
  
"Ha, you could have fooled me! You're so slow and clumsy you're lucky you don't trip and fall into some kidnappers hands."  
  
"Ranma! You take that back!" the girl shouted. She swung a punch at the boy, missing him entirely.  
  
"Nyah!" Ranma crowed as he dodged and danced away.  
  
"Hmphf." Akane declined to follow, letting him get away with his taunt. She opened her clutched fist, showing the strange metal ring. She shrugged and walked into the house for a bath. On the ground behind her, a strange rough stone that softly glowed green lay in the bushes. Slowly its glow dimmed, leaving it hidden.  
  
-  
  
Akane tossed the ring on her bed as she toweled her hair dry. That Ranma could be so irritating. But he was always watching out for her. A small smile crept up on her lips. He really did care, somewhere in his crassness. He just didn't know how to let it show.  
  
She picked up the ring after putting on her pajamas, sitting on her western style bed. After looking at it from all sides, she shrugged and put it on her right hand's ring finger. Sudden bright light filled the room, as she felt her loose and comfortable nightwear change to a full body tight, form- fitting outfit.  
  
The blazing green energy diminished and faded, leaving Akane dumbfounded. It was just some sort of ring, right?  
  
"What's going on?" Akane said to herself as she pulled out her little vanity mirror off of her desk.  
  
It was still herself, but she was now wearing a little domino mask and a body hugging uniform. Slowly, it dawned on her, that she knew that uniform. It was the uniform of that American hero, the Green Lantern.  
  
So who was the little blue man? And why was he giving the ring away? Was she supposed to become a super-hero? And he picked her to defend the world against... what was it? A Jor-Dan? Another alien?  
  
A sudden rapping on her window startled her out of her thoughts.  
  
"Akane? You all right?" Ranma called from where he hung from the roof's edge. "There was this weird light again!" Stupid drapes, how was he supposed to tell if Akane was all right if she kept them closed?  
  
How do I get rid of the outfit? Akane thought panickly. Her sudden surge of will turned off the outfit, leaving her back in her normal sleeping clothes. "That was easy!"  
  
"Akane!" Maybe he should just open the window and go in?  
  
"Ranma! What do you think you are doing?" Akane asked, her temper flaring as she flung open the drapes and window.  
  
"Uh, I saw a weird light again." Uh, oh. Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!  
  
"And just what were you watching my room for?" Akane inquired icily. That pervert!  
  
"I was just on the roof, um, watching the stars. It's not like I'd want to peep on your dorky body anyways!" Ranma snapped back unthinkingly.  
  
"Really?" Suddenly, books and other items started to fly out the window, narrowly missing the hanging martial artist as he dodged frantically.  
  
"Nyah! Can't hit the broad side of a ba-arn-urgk!" The dumbbell that had been saved for last cut off Ranma's jibe. Ranma landed on his head with a neck-jarring thud. "Owie."  
  
"Serves you right, Ranma!" Akane called from up above.  
  
"You are so-o-o dorky, you know that?" Ranma yelled back up.  
  
Akane's answer was to drop another box full of weights on him.  
  
"Urgk!"  
  
Thoughts of her ring were driven from her mind by the need for sleep and Ranma's intrusion.  
  
-  
  
Akane dashed home, eager to get her homework done and go over to her friend's house like she'd planned. Suddenly, she felt an itching on her finger, from the strange new ring. She stared at it blankly for a moment, before remembering what it really was and what this probably meant.  
  
She ducked down an alleyway and with a mere thought, had switched to the Green Lantern's uniform.  
  
"So, now what?" Akane asked rhetorically. No answer ensued from any omniscient advisor. Or even a cute magical animal that should have just appeared. She guessed that she'd been chosen to be a new Green Lantern, but beyond that, she was lost.  
  
She scratched her head. Well, from the pictures she remembered, he could fly (she thought) and blast things. With a shrug, she tried to concentrate about flying up into the air.  
  
"YEOW!" Akane screamed as she rocketed into the air, green energy flowing around her. She wobbled but then caught herself.  
  
"Okay, I'm flying. I'm really flying," Akane said to herself, trying to calm herself down. She shifted the focus to the ring on her right hand and the itching sensation. Just like that, she veered towards the east, heading out over the city.  
  
Mere moments later, she was flying over the docks of Tokyo Bay and zeroing in on an unassuming freighter. As she got closer, she realized that it had an odd bubble of black energy covering the back of it. Near the edge of it, on deck, she saw several crumpled humans. The crew?  
  
Landing with a thump, she bent down to see how they were doing. With startling suddenness, the prone figure grabbed her, twisting and throwing her up against a wall. All of the crew leaped to their feet, callous grins broke out among them.  
  
"So, Dr. Light you finally arrived!" the first one spoke as he stood up quickly, taking three steps and kicking at her. "Eh?"  
  
Akane shook off her stupor and caught the kick with one hand. With her free hand, she flipped to her feet. "Do I look like Dr. Light? She wears a yellow and white costume! I'm wearing green and black!"  
  
The group of thugs had noticed and stopped in confusion. "Who are you?"  
  
The guy right next to him shrugged and yelled out, "Who cares? Take her out so we can be ready for Dr. Light!"  
  
With that, the group of five men charged the young girl, swinging punches and blackjacks. The newest Green Lantern casually ducked and blocked all of the attackers. "I'm Green Lantern! And you guys are no threat!"  
  
The ruffians were finding that out the hard way. All punches were blocked or just outright dodged. One, then another, then finally a series of five blows laid low the thugs.  
  
Akane nodded in satisfaction. She might not be the best martial artist in Nerima anymore, but she was still good. She turned towards the inky darkness, her hand slowly reaching out to touch it. Nothing happened, except that her hand dipped in without resistance.  
  
Midnight Psycho frowned from the freighter's bridge where he'd just noticed the intruder on his meticulously laid out plans. Who was this strange girl? She was wearing the uniform of the Green Lantern, but wasn't using her ring. If she had one. The lithe and blackly clad oriental frowned. He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out his darkness gun. The darkness generator would last for a while yet, even while being countered by any source of light. He rechecked the power level of the gun, squinting behind his special red-tinted goggles.  
  
He looked up to see what the Green Lantern was doing. Fool, she was wandering around blindly. She wasn't even using the ring to generate light.  
  
This is dumb, Akane thought to herself. It's too dark to see anything. "Now what?" she asked herself. She couldn't see anything to blast and flying would be just stupid. If only she had a light. She blinked at a flash of green light from her ring, a light that flickered out when she jumped.  
  
Midnight Psycho frowned. What was she doing?  
  
You just have to think about it! Akane thought excitedly. She raised her left hand suddenly, as spark of emerald energy jumping off of it as if in excitement. "Light!" she commanded unconsciously.  
  
The last power ring of Oa answered, letting loose a bright light that illuminated the area around her for ten feet. "Yes!" Akane frowned in thought, the bubble of light shrinking around her momentarily.  
  
Midnight Psycho frowned. Hmm. About the same that Dr. Light could generate.  
  
It's based on thought? Akane thought to herself. No! It's based on concentration! Willpower! Light surged across the deck, showing that she was right!  
  
On the bridge, a two foot cylinder of metal started to hum, indented red lights blinking, trying to counteract the light being generated within its area of affect. It soon started to whine, its exotic engines fighting against a relentless tide of emerald light.  
  
The Japanese villain of darkness swore under his breath. What power! He must take that ring for himself! He shattered the bridge window with the gun in his hand, aiming the moment it was gone.  
  
From behind him, the whine of tortured energies turned into a howl for just a second, before overloading. The explosion blew him clear out of the bridge, leaving him dazed on the deck, a mere twenty feet from the newest Green Lantern.  
  
"Damn. How can this be?" he muttered dazedly.  
  
"What? Wait? I recognize you, you're a foe of Dr. Light! Midnight Psycho!" Akane exclaimed.  
  
With the grace of a cat, Midnight Psycho rolled to his feet. "Nice to know that I'm well recognized. And you are the Green Lantern? Aren't you a little young, girl?"  
  
"Huh? So what?" Akane rebutted angrily. "And I yes, I am the Green Lantern now!"  
  
"You don't sound very sure. So, you're a newbie. Well, I'm not going to let my plans be disrupted by a neophyte. And that ring will fit nicely on my finger after I kill you!" With that, he snapped a shot off, hoping to surprise her.  
  
Akane ducked instinctively, hearing the sound of crashing metal behind her. A quick glance showed that the dark energy had blasted a three foot section of the deck to smithereens. "Oh, crud!" she cried out, ducking another blast. She pointed the ring at Midnight Psycho and thought of it blasting him. She was rewarded with a green beam of energy that nearly took off the villain's head.  
  
Dr. Light flashed across the bay, worry etched on her face. How had Midnight Psycho learned about the shipment of equipment for S.T.A.R. labs? And more importantly, how had learned of the fifteen grams of anti-matter that it carried? She was going to have words with the person in charge of this fiasco!  
  
Wait! What was that light?  
  
Midnight Psycho flicked a switch on the high tech darkness gun he carried. "Dodge this, Green Lantern!" he shouted holding down the trigger of the gun, unleashing a fully automatic burst of energy, striking the entire area.  
  
Akane nearly panicked, even as the ring materialized a glowing, transparent curved wall in front of her. It can make things?  
  
"No! This can't be happening!"  
  
Akane suddenly dashed toward him, spinning a vicious kick into his stomach. Midnight Psycho was lifted off the ground and rocketed across the deck, slamming painfully up against the bridge wall. He struggled to his feet, groaned once and collapsed.  
  
"Yay! I got him!" Akane shouted as she danced around.  
  
"Yes, you did! Now, you'd better be ready to answer some questions!" the white and yellow clothed Dr. Light said. Her cape fluttered in the wind from where she floated in the air above the water.  
  
"Oh, wow! It's Dr. Light," Akane gushed.  
  
"Uh, yes." Dr. Light was taken back by the awed reaction. "So you're one of the Green Lanterns Corps?"  
  
"Corps? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about?" Akane replied. She squinted in concentration, lifting off the ground. She could get to like this.  
  
"So you just found this ring lying around?" the older woman asked. That uniform looked authentic.  
  
"No, this little blue guy gave it to me. He was wearing a red robe with the same symbol." Now that she thought about it, that was kind of odd. Who was that?  
  
"Little blue guy? A Guardian, I think. Hmm." Dr. Light frowned. She really didn't know much more than that the Guardians created the GL Corps. And gave them the rings to use to defend the galaxy.  
  
"Is that what he was? He didn't stay around very long."  
  
"So what do you plan to do with the ring?" the older super-hero asked.  
  
"Well... be a hero of course! It's a martial artist's duty to protect those weaker than you!"  
  
"Really?" Dr. Light thought for a second. "You're new, of course. Let me give you a bit of advice. Don't tell anyone who you are. Or what you do. Even me. If you have family or loved ones, you need to protect them. That means hiding who you are. Even from them."  
  
"But you don't wear a mask."  
  
"I've sometimes wished I had thought about that first."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Dr. Light looked west, towards Tokyo. "You should leave. The coastal patrol will be here soon. Along with reporters and their cameras."  
  
"Thanks, Dr. Light! I'll remember." With that, she took off, faster than a rocket. In moments, she'd disappeared across the horizon.  
  
"Hmm. I think that life might just have become more interesting here in Tokyo." Dr. Light shrugged and turned back to take Midnight Psycho into custody, only to find him long gone. "Grr. He played possum again."  
  
-  
  
Akane drifted across Nerima, floating high in the sky. She had to think for a moment. What was she going to do? Dr. Light had mentioned that she needed to hide that she was the Green Lantern. But how? Nabiki was too nosey and Ranma would be sure to notice the ring too, if she kept it on for very long.  
  
That was it! She zoomed across the sky, headed for the local mall.  
  
-  
  
Around the gigantic hulking figure, guards in high tech armor lay limp and broken. His stubby hands grabbed another guard before he could run, snapping his neck instantly. Insane and over-powerful super-humans were gleefully decimating the guards and freeing themselves.  
  
"Green Lantern! I will kill Superman and the one called... Green Lantern!" shouted Mongul the conqueror.  
  
A blast struck him from behind, coming from the air above.  
  
"Don't move or I'll fire again, with lethal force!" the new guard said as he flew down to the ground on the large rocket pack he wore.  
  
"Fool!" Mongul called out, snagging the hapless guard easily. "You will tell me where the one called Superman is! Now! Or I'll crush you!"  
  
"I-I don't know. He's gone missing and hasn't been seen in a while." The jailer was now all too aware of his impending mortality. The crushing grip threatened to kill him almost instantly.  
  
"What of the one known as Green Lantern?" Mongul asked, his large and brutish face only inches away from the hapless man.  
  
"I think I heard something about a Green Lantern being sighted in Tokyo!" the uniformed man babbled.  
  
"Huh. Our second target city. Very well." He pulled the rocket pack off the guard. "You will not need this anymore." With a flick of his wrists, he mashed the guard through a concrete wall, killing him instantly.  
  
With a thundering roar, the rocket threw him into the air.  
  
-  
  
A green hand picked up the small cat in the tree and hoisted it to the ground. A little girl squealed in joy at the return of her pet. "You take care!" Akane called out as she flew off.  
  
Moments later she landed in a small alley, slipping the ring off and slipping it into necklace. A second later, she was walking down the street, headed towards her home.  
  
"There you are, Akane!" Ranma called out as he trotted along a fence top. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"  
  
"Eh? What's up, Ranma?" Akane asked.  
  
"Not much. It just seems you disappear at times." Ranma scowled at her. At least Ryoga wasn't around and neither was Kuno. He'd been worried that she was starting to hang out with them, their protests not withstanding.  
  
"I just felt like a walk. You don't have to hover over me!"  
  
Ranma opened his mouth, but suddenly looked up, his sixth sense warning him of an impending attack. Ranma scooped up Akane and leaped away. A huge figure crashed into the ground, right where they had been.  
  
"Green Lantern! Come fight me, so that I might grind you beneath my heel!" Mongul shouted, stepping out of the cratered concrete. His sensors had pinpointed this as the last emission of the exotic energy they used.  
  
Ranma set his fiancée down a good distance away. "I don't know who you are, but nobody attacks Akane and gets away with it!" Ranma leaped the entire distance, a perfect leap kick that barely moved the superhuman jugernaught.  
  
Behind both of them, Akane fumbled with locket, opening it and sliding the ring onto her finger.  
  
"Boy, I don't care who you are, give me the Green Lantern!" Mongul shouted; throwing a massive punch that was easily ducked.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked, launching a hundred kicks into his stomach. The much larger humanoid barely flinched.  
  
"He's not the Green Lantern, I am!" she boomed out, lashing out with a beam of emerald light.  
  
Mongul was actually staggered by that, his brow creasing in surprise. "Who are you, girl?"  
  
Akane floated up, a soft glow covering her body. "I already said that! I'm the new Green Lantern."  
  
Nah, that couldn't be! But, maybe it was. He hoped he was wrong. "Hey, we aren't finished fighting, ugly!" Ranma called out, snapping a full strength crescent kick into the yellow alien's jaw.  
  
The gigantic alien shook his head. "You are annoying me, gnat. Die!" His huge blow missed the agile martial artist, but struck the ground so hard that the concrete exploded, striking Ranma's back like Ryoga's breaking point. His limp body was flung into the air.  
  
"Ranma!" Akane cried out, letting herself be distracted.  
  
Mongul leaped the forty feet in one bound, tackling the much smaller figure and smashing through a store's wall. "Now you die, Green Lantern!" the yellow skinned alien shouted, smashing the green and black garbed figure deep into the ground.  
  
"That is enough, Mongul! Cease and desist. This is your final warning!" a resonant voice called from the air.  
  
Mongul looked over his shoulder, seeing a red caped figure eclipsing the sun, the martial artist being held in one easy grasp. "You are not Superman!"  
  
"Of course not! I am the Martian Manhunter!" the emerald-skinned alien said concisely.  
  
"I have already slain the Green Lantern. I will not be stopped by the likes of you. If you bar my path to the Kryptonian, I will kill you!"  
  
The ground suddenly rumbled as a blunt green missile struck him from the earth and flinging the remorseless destroyer into the air. "I'm not done with you yet!" A small tear and much grime marred her clothing. She floated slowly towards her attacker.  
  
"Hey, let me go!" Ranma said as he finally shook off the daze that he'd been in. With surprising strength, he eluded the Martian's grip, ripping his shirt in the process. He bounced twice and snapped a vicious spin kick at Mongul that stunned him for a second.  
  
The Martian Manhunter blinked in surprise, but immediately zoomed in to hit his foe with a double fisted punch, aided by his flying speed.  
  
Mongul rubbed his jaw. This was becoming burdensome. He had to remove one of the players from the field. His right hand adjusted the square blaster that was mounted on his chest. "I will deal with you in a moment, Martian. Die, Green Lantern!" With that he sent out a yellow beam of energy that struck a hastily raised green wall. "What? Impossible! Your powers have a yellow weakness!"  
  
"Huh?" Akane replied, her brow furrowing in concentration.  
  
"Indeed, how you can even affect Mongul is amazing. But that is not here nor now." Red eye beams of scorching energy blasted into the marauding alien, barely moving him.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about. My ring works just fine on yellow things!" With that, Akane blasted out with a beam of energy, following up the Martian Manhunter's own attack and knocking Mongul off guard again.  
  
"Hey, ugly, how can you expect to deal with them, when you can't even hurt me?" Ranma catcalled, dancing around the much larger biped. "I don't even have super powers and you can't beat me!"  
  
The much stronger and larger alien sneered and punched at the dodging target. And kept punching at him, following him relentlessly.  
  
"The fool!" the Martian said loudly. "Mongul is too powerful to enter into a fight if you have no powers."  
  
"Wait! He knows what he's doing!" the much smaller girl said, putting a hand on his shoulders to restrain.  
  
"You must be joking!"  
  
"No! Watch!"  
  
"Why won't you just die, human?" Mongul shouted.  
  
"You asked for it! Hiryu Shotan HA!" the pig-tailed martial artist called out, punching upwards into the air. A cyclone of monstrous proportions suddenly swirled into existence, sucking Mongul up into the air.  
  
Mongul felt as if he'd been blasted with some stupendous power. For long moments, he was in the air, until finally the tornado of force finally spent itself, letting him fall to the hard ground below. "Ung. That is... impossible." Mongul slowly pulled himself out of the crater, just in time to note the sun being occluded by a very large object.  
  
A gigantic hammer smashed the alien back down, leaving him very unconscious. "Yay! Got him!" Akane crowed. She floated down to land next to Ranma.  
  
"So what's with the outfit?" Ranma asked, gesturing at her.  
  
"Er, what do you mean?"  
  
"Come on, Akane. Like that mask really hides much of your face."  
  
"Perhaps it would be better to continue this someplace more private?" the Martian Manhunter interrupted suddenly.  
  
"Huh?" The popping of flash bulbs from cameras caught all of their attention. "Oh! Uh, bye!" Akane rocketed into the air and out of sight.  
  
"It would be best if I departed too." And with that, the Martian Manhunter disappeared from view, literally.  
  
"Oh, that's just great!" Ranma complained. A burst of water exploded from the ravaged concrete that lay underneath the fallen alien suddenly drenched the now female martial artist. "Gah!" Ranma cried out, hoping to a local roof and running off, almost faster than the eye could follow. She did not want her curse on the front of the paper.  
  
Flashing lights on top of military land cruisers showed in the distance as the JSDF finally showed up to take charge of the incarceration of the dangerous villain.  
  
Noting this, Martian Manhunter decided to follow the martial artists. Flying silently above the transmogrified martial artist, the green alien that had become one of Earth's greatest defenders followed silently. He had become quite interested in the two, as they seemed to know each other.  
  
His hunch paid off as the martial artist hopped over a fence into a rustic homestead, where a girl that closely matched the new Green Lantern was waiting. He noted the furtive look of the martial artist as she tried to look over the area for someone spying on them.  
  
"So what's going on, Akane?" Ranma asked; an overly cute pout on her lips.  
  
"Do you remember that light that one night? A blue alien gave me the ring and told me that I had to use it, to protect the world."  
  
Ranma opened her mouth, but was suddenly drenched with hot water from a glowing green cup. "That's kind of handy. So you're a super-heroine now?" He puffed out his chest in sudden machismo. "I don't need no stupid ring to fight bad guys."  
  
"Well excuse me for not being the best martial artist around. This is my chance to do some good. To not be... useless." Akane gulped suddenly. "This is important to me, okay? Don't... don't mess it up, please."  
  
"Uh, okay. I guess." Ranma suddenly changed the direction of the conversation. "So, how do you do the school thing and being a super hero?"  
  
"I may have to miss some school. I hope it isn't too bad. I'm just barely getting caught up after Jusendo!"  
  
With that, their invisible and mysterious watcher floated away. There was a high school nearby. The heroically muscled alien landed nearby and shifted his form as easily as most people combed their hair. In moments, Yuchiro Takata, reputable businesswoman, walked into the halls of Furinkan High School.  
  
"Excuse me, could you direct me to the Principal's office? I wish to submit a proposal to him," the striking (but very human looking) woman asked.  
  
"Uh, are you sure?" the janitor asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Just down this hall, you can't miss it. Look for the palm trees."  
  
She followed the directions, being shocked at the realistic panorama of the Hawaiian beach. "Uh, excuse me. Are you the... Principal?" she inquired of the brightly colored man lying on a lounge chair. He seemed to have a palm tree growing out of the top of his head.  
  
"Yo got it! How can I help a pretty wahine like you?" Principal Kuno flashed his best smile and watched for some sort of reaction from the rather severe woman.  
  
"I feel drawn to do a bit of good will work. I am a busy woman, but I would like to donate ten million yen to this school and help mold the future of our wondrous heritage. I would like to help by being a part time substitute teacher, filling in when I can."  
  
"Ten million yen? Heya, I recognize you. Furinkan would be honored to have you join our faculty."  
  
Yuchiro Takata, aka Martian Manhunter, had an odd sinking feeling in her stomach. How come this suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea?  
  
-  
  
Ranma and Akane glared at each other across the open aisle in the classroom. Neither would remember who had started the latest fight, or over what, but both were more than willing to show their displeasure.  
  
Yuchiro shook her head in amazement. They both had good hearts, it was terribly obvious. And to a telepath of her caliber, their suppressed love was even shown. So why did they act so horribly to each other? "All right, class. I want you to finish reading chapter two in preparation for the quiz on Monday."  
  
Muffled groans answered her, even as all of the students slammed their books into their bags and got to their feet.  
  
"Ranma, may I speak to you. Privately?" she asked pointedly.  
  
The boy in question nearly jumped out of his seat, quickly glancing over to the teacher. "Uh, sure."  
  
Akane almost stayed, but at the last moment waved to Ranma. "I'm going to head home!"  
  
The last student closed the door behind them, leaving the two alone.  
  
"Ranma, I've heard about your curse and I was wondering if you had actually talked to anyone about it?" The disguised Martian looked deeply into the mind of Ranma Saotome.  
  
Ranma blink-blinked in surprise. "Um, no. No reason to, really." This new teacher really spooked him out.  
  
"You feel nothing when you are forced to change genders?"  
  
"Not... really. It's not something I like to talk about, Ms. Takata."  
  
Yuchiro sighed even as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "That's what I was trying to talk about. Something like that could be weighing on your mind. I'm no expert, of course, but I really think you need to come to terms with this change to you." A lie, of course. She was an expert of changes to the body and how it affected the mind.  
  
"I'll, uh, think about it." Ranma turned quickly.  
  
"I will be here if you need someone to talk to. Thank you for your time. You may leave now."  
  
Ranma nodded and took off. He ran down the stairs and out side. A single bound took him over the walls, where he slowed down. A look of concentration took over. He hated to admit it, but maybe he did need to think things through a bit. And maybe talk to someone too.  
  
But who?  
  
-  
  
Akane opened the house door and inhaled, ready to call out her customary greeting, when she heard a cry.  
  
"Please, I don't know what you want!" a girl sobbed.  
  
"Where... Green... Lantern!" growled a very coarse, foreign voice.  
  
"Green Lantern? I don't know-arghk!" A sickening crack sound reverberated thru the house.  
  
"Where Green Lantern!" he yelled out again. His frustration was palpable.  
  
"Leave her alone!" Akane yelled out, even as she slipped on the ring. She slid into the living room, clothed again in the familiar, masked uniform of the Green Lantern.  
  
A maroon, hulking figure released the bleeding and bruised body from his grasp, her arm's bones twisted cruelly and showing thru tears in the skin. "Finally, someone who speaks a real language! You, Green Lantern, I'm here for that ring. Give it to me and I won't kill you!" His hand glowed with strange energies. His interrogation hadn't been working too well with the young housewife, anyways. He'd hoped for more time alone to get the information he needed.  
  
"Kasumi! You hurt... You bastard!" Her will formed a mighty, serpentine dragon-beam that slammed the man out through the wall. "You'll pay for that!" Without a thought, she leapt out after him.  
  
"You're not bad, girl." He stripped the remains of the normal coveralls that he'd been wearing. "Doesn't matter, 'cause I'm invulnerable. You can call me Major Force. Or your death!" Both hands blossomed with scarlet fire that slammed into a green wall that shuddered under the attack.  
  
Sweat beading on her brow, a metallic katana appeared in her hand even as the wall became more solid. A burst of will threw her at the dojo's wall, allowing herself to slip behind him and slash with her new weapon, slicing into his back. It was harder to keep the weapon formed than normal.  
  
"You cut me! You bitch!" Major Force shouted, crushing the wall behind her with his immense blow.  
  
"How could you harm an innocent like that?" Her ring blasted out again, smashing into the metallic looking body of her foe.  
  
"It was easy. Her goody-goody attitude sickened me!" Purplish energy slammed into a European type shield that Akane conjured up.  
  
The shield held for just a moment and then shattered, flinging her across the yard and up against the outer wall. "What's going on?" she said to herself, shaking her head.  
  
"Ha! I knew you couldn't stand up to my power! I'm going to kill you now, girl!" He tromped over and attempted to smash into her with both fists.  
  
She ducked to the side and attempted to blast him with the ring while punching, trying to increase the blows' power. The ring gave off a feeble glow and then went out! "No!"  
  
Major Force said something in English too fast for her to follow. With a laugh, he blasted her with a low power punch that flung her away, bleeding and bruised.  
  
"Akane! You creep!" a new voice cried out from the hole in the house.  
  
"Back off or Die!" Major Force warned in very poor Japanese. He lashed out with another beam of energy that blew an opening right thru the house.  
  
"Way too slow, jerk!" Ranma crowed, merely flowing around the attack. A lifetime's training, a will indominatible formed within his cupped hands. "Mouko Takabishi!" he shouted out, throwing one of the largest ki blasts of his life. These super-villains were just too tough to take out with mere punches!  
  
The super villain braced himself, shrugging off the attack. If he'd been less invulnerable, he might have felt that. "Hah! Is that the best you can do?" he cried out in English.  
  
Akane coughed and rolled over. How could the ring have failed her? She turned over to see Ranma putting up a valiant fight, but even in her hurt state, she could see that he wasn't hurting Major Force in the slightest.  
  
"Ranma!"  
  
"Akane! What happened?" Ranma called out, ducking another blast that left a ten foot crater behind him.  
  
"I don't know, the ring just died and won't work!" Akane called back, almost in tears. She was going to be a hero! She wasn't going to be useless anymore.  
  
"Crap. I found a glowing green rock behind the dojo after you found the ring! Maybe it can fix it! It's under the center of the dojo!" Ranma yelled back, barely dodging another blast, his pigtail being chopped three inches shorter, releasing his hair.  
  
With a pained heave, Akane got back to her feet and stumbled towards the dojo's open door.  
  
A near hit from Major Force sent her stumbling. He yelled out something unintelligible in English again, pointing his hand at her threateningly.  
  
Akane looked around frantically. Where was the rock? Wait, he said under the dojo. "Hiya!" she cried out, smashing a large hole into the floor. She saw a glow of green as she fumbled. Her hands grasped onto the roughness of the rock, only to feel it flow and change.  
  
"What the hell?" Major Force yelled out, gaping in astonishment at the oddly glowing Japanese stone lantern that she held.  
  
With a brilliant flash of emerald brilliance, her wounds and scrapes disappeared. She might not have towered over him, but all of a sudden she seethed with energy and power, causing Major Force to take an involuntary step backwards.  
  
Ranma dove to the side, even as the largest oriental dragon he'd ever seen appeared. It roared even as its claws smashed Major Force into a huge crater. Even as it pulled its claw back, a fiery gout of flame engulfed the hapless villain.  
  
Ranma whistled from the side. The pure power of that ring was amazing. Ranma winced as Akane blasted the man again and again, a rictus of rage stamped on her features. Ouch. He'd been on the receiving end of that rage before.  
  
"Stop!" a diamond hard voice commanded. "He's beaten." Floating majestically, the Martian Manhunter's presence was a tangible thing, demanding obedience.  
  
Akane floated there for a second, her mouth open. She shook her head, releasing her will. "Yeah. I guess he is." She took a deep breath suddenly. "It's just that he hurt... Kasumi!" she wailed, zooming into the house.  
  
Ranma and the Martian Manhunter followed just a moment later. The Green Lantern knelt beside her older sister. She looked up as they entered. "I... I don't know what to do! She's been hurt so badly! Can't lose her too. Can't lose..."  
  
She was interrupted by the green skinned alien. "Will the ring to heal her." The Martian's ruby eyes stared at her intently.  
  
"But..."  
  
"Will it to heal her." He overrode her objections with his steadfast gaze.  
  
A look of intense determination and concentration appeared on her, sweat on her brow from her intense efforts. A soft green glow suffused Kasumi's skin. The unconscious young woman grimaced at the intense pain of her bones resetting, flesh knitting at amazing speeds.  
  
In just a few moments Kasumi's skin was unblemished with any wound, the only sign that she'd been hurt were the blood stains on her dress. With a sob, Akane grabbed her sister in a desperate hug, crying like a small child.  
  
A few minutes later, which Ranma and the Martian Manhunter stood silent vigil; Akane finally calmed down and looked up. "...thank you..." they managed to hear, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible. Her eyes strayed down to the ring. "I can't keep this. I'll just hurt my family more." She took off the ring and tossed it violently outside. After that, she collapsed onto her oldest sister again.  
  
"I... understand, I think. It is your choice, but you should be aware that others may come looking for you now." He nodded to her and then floated outside to pick up Major Force. With sure movements, he flew into the air.  
  
Ranma reached out carefully, putting his hand on Akane's shoulder. The young girl's snapped to meet his own, wild and unsure. With the precision of a wrestling takedown, she latched onto her fiancé like he was the most important thing in the world, sobbing wildly.  
  
He couldn't do anything but rock her slightly, his arms lapped loosely back around her.  
  
"What happened here?" an outraged female voice called out. A moment later, Nabiki stormed in to see the three figures. Ranma and Akane being so intimate and caring for one another would normally have been her only focus, but the still lying figure, stained in blood, captured her view fully. "Kasumi?" The middle Tendo sister knelt down, shaking her older sister's shoulder.  
  
"Umm. Tired. Want to go back to sleep," Kasumi muttered unhappily.  
  
"Kasumi! Wake up! What's going on?" Nabiki shouted out.  
  
"What? Oh, Nabiki! I had the most horrid dream. I dreamed a mean man made out of purple metal was hurting me!" Kasumi said as she shook herself awake.  
  
"You aren't being coherent, sis. What purple man?" Nabiki now had a perplexed look on her face.  
  
"He was looking for the Green Lantern," Akane said softly, not releasing her fiancé. "There's no Green Lantern here anymore."  
  
"Hey, you should go lie down now, Akane." Ranma's face was etched with worry.  
  
"..." Akane thought about it a second. "Maybe." She smiled wanly, nodding an affirmative finally. She released her fiancé and headed up the stairs.  
  
"All right, Ranma! You'd better start talking. And fast!" Nabiki demanded loudly from downstairs.  
  
"Um, well, it's kind of like this..." Ranma started even as his voice drifted out of her hearing range.  
  
Walking woodenly, Akane opened her door and settled down on her bed. It was starting to get dark, several hours later when she looked away from the ceiling. She'd heard in the distance the hammering of repair work. That had been probably been Ranma and the fathers fixing what they could of the mess.  
  
Her room was suddenly lit up an ethereal emerald hue. "Green Lantern." The strangely garbed blond Caucasian was looking right at her.  
  
"I'm not Green Lantern." Her breath caught in her throat. Was it another attacker? She was reminded of the Martian Manhunter's words about other people hunting her.  
  
"Actually, you're the only one that can be the Green Lantern now. The ring will only respond to you, as I discovered." The garishly cloaked and garbed man turned over his fist, opening it to reveal the ring. "That boy was very persistent in trying to keep it away from me. I am the Sentinel."  
  
"Ranma? You didn't hurt him, did you?" Akane cried out suddenly.  
  
"No! Well, not much," the old man chuckled. "He's a real scrapper, isn't he? Actually gave me a run for my money."  
  
"So why did you come here?" Akane asked suspiciously. She clenched her fists nervously, ready for a fight.  
  
"We need the Green Lantern to stop Jordan."  
  
"The Jordan?" Akane queried.  
  
"The ...? No, Hal Jordan, the previous Green Lantern has gone insane and power mad. He's on a quest to remake reality, getting rid of all those mistakes that he feels shouldn't have happened. He doesn't care who gets in his way."  
  
"Hal... Jordan? You mean, the old Green Lantern is the... badguy?"  
  
"Yes, and you are the only Green Lantern now. I am too old to be the Green Lantern again. Now. And I've already failed to stop him. I was almost aged to death. You must take up the ring. Untold billions of people will die if he succeeds." The Sentinel's expression was grim.  
  
"Billions?" Akane could scarcely believe what she was hearing. "My family?"  
  
"The entire universe."  
  
"I... I'll do it. For my family!" Akane proclaimed determinedly, a new fire lit within her. She took the ring and put it on. Thinking back for a moment, she grabbed the lantern that Ranma must have brought up here. Energy crackled off of it, seemingly refilling the ring.  
  
"Hmm. You might want to take the lantern with you. Who knows when you might make it back to recharge?"  
  
"Right! So we are off?" Akane asked, garbed again in the Green Lantern's uniform.  
  
The other ring wielder nodded, floating up through the ceiling.  
  
"I can go thru things? Hey, wait up!" she called out, willing her ring to follow.  
  
-  
  
"Sorry, old friend, but you won't be stopping anything," Hal Jordan, now Parallax, said to the stunned heroes that were assembled around him. The unconscious Superman's head and torso was only being held up by his cape, firmly in his green clad grasp.  
  
"It's really him, Hal Jordan!" Guy Gardner stammered out in surprise. He shifted his techno-organic arms into cannon looking weapons.  
  
"He was behind it all?"  
  
"I've taken the name Parallax now. I've traveled to the beginning of time and back, learning and gaining the power that I need to fix everything. I won't let you stop me!"  
  
"You creep! You erased Tokyo!" the young female Green Lantern screamed out, sending a solid beam of green energy at him. "You killed my family!" You killed Ranma! she screamed internally.  
  
Parallax staggered under the attack for a moment, before shrugging it off like a shower of rain. "Not bad, girl. But that won't stop me!" His own attack was far more potent, sending the young woman bowling, knocking over the other heroes.  
  
Akane wiped the blood from her lip. She couldn't let him destroy the universe! She just couldn't! Taking a hold of her invisible lantern, she let it become seen, its power directly funneling into the ring. "Parallax! I won't let you win!" she screamed out, an incredible surge of energy forming in front of her.  
  
"What?" Parallax said, turning to face her. He ignored the other heroes preset, seeing a serious attack forming. Whole worlds could be destroyed with that sort of energy! He blasted out with his own green energy, meeting the wave of energy she sent at him head on.  
  
Akane, the last Green Lantern, gritted her teeth, pulling even more on her immense willpower. But eventually, even that met its match with the greatest wielder of the Emerald Energy.  
  
"You're too dangerous to leave where you can come back and challenge me again. I'll make sure that you'll never come back!" Parallax snarled. She had just too much power to outright destroy. But she wasn't prepared to be ejected into the farthest regions of existence, even further than he had traveled.  
  
"No!" she screamed just a consciousness fled her battered body.  
  
A seeming eternity later, she groaned and woke herself up. Whiteness met her masked gaze, wherever she looked. She focused on her ring, trying to detect anything.  
  
She floated, curled up in a ball. 'Kasumi. Nabiki. Daddy. Ranma,' she bewailed to herself.  
  
-  
  
"I wasn't able to find Green Lantern. It's like she doesn't even exist anymore!" Waverider announced to the assembled heroes as he reappeared in a burst of rainbow energy.  
  
"Poor kid. That's not a pleasant way to go."  
  
Batgirl nodded. "She said that she'd lost her family and fiancé to the entropy wave."  
  
Superman shook his head. "We have to stop him. Too many people have been hurt."  
  
-  
  
Akane frowned. She was bored. And hungry.  
  
And getting angry! It was obvious that Waverider wasn't going to be able to find her now, like they'd planned. So it was up to her. And the ring, of course! Maybe they've already won and all she had to do was get home somehow.  
  
Home to her family. And that idiot... Ranma. She stifled a sob. How could she even think of him like that? After he died, trying to save Nabiki and Father? And she hadn't been able to do anything to stop it!  
  
She focused her will on the ring. Find Ranma, she commanded it. The ring flared bright against overwhelming whiteness. Suddenly, she felt a small tug off into the vast unknown. "Yes!" she cried out. She knew that he couldn't be killed!  
  
She flew off, pushing herself to travel in the strange, unknown ether. After hours of traveling, she came across a battered and bruised form floating in the void.  
  
"Ranma!" she cried. Her green aura encompassed him.  
  
Ranma reflexively inhaled as air became available. It had been such a long time. With air, came coughing. Who was that, trying to talk to him?"  
  
Akane threw off her mask, letting it dissolve into the void. "Oh, Gods, I thought he'd killed you!"  
  
"Huh? Akane?" She was alive? But he'd thought that... His thinking was interrupted by her throwing herself into a tight hug. Ranma smiled, his heart relaxing. He must have been mistaken. He started to blink, his eyes starting to come into focus.  
  
"Yes, you silly. Now we have to get out of here. Wherever here is, anyways." Great. How?  
  
Ranma glanced around, seeing absolutely nothing for as far as he could see. "Where are we? All I remember is getting blasted and thinking I was going to die!"  
  
"I've got it!" Akane crowed suddenly. 'Ring, take me to Japan by the fastest means possible!' Her willpower surged, green energy flaring in response. Someplace Ranma and I can be happy, she hoped.  
  
"Huh? Where did you get...?" Ranma started to ask, when the void around them turned into a rainbow of coruscating colors, seemingly traveling around them like they were in an immense tunnel. With a burst of light, they appeared above a forest.  
  
"Where are we?" Akane asked, spinning around in the air, trying to see a familiar sight. Ranma tumbled to the ground lightly, five feet below.  
  
"Say, what are you doing in that Green Lantern getup?" Ranma asked, turning his head to look at her closely.  
  
"Dummy! I am Green Lantern, now!" 


	3. With great powers comes

Power and Loss  
  
They were suddenly interrupted by several tremendous roars. Stalking out of the forest was an immense dragon, its many heads in constant motion above it. It roared at the sight of them. Stuck in its maw was a push broom.  
  
"The Orochi?" they yelled out in surprise.  
  
"That broom! Shinosuke! It woke up again!" Ranma cried out!  
  
"We need to find the horn! I'll cage it up!" Akane cried out, blasting out with her ring, making a stout cage around the horrendous beast.  
  
"Got it! It's in the pool! I'll be right back!" True to his words, he disappeared in a blur, faster than she could follow or even see.  
  
"Huh? How did he get so..."  
  
"I'm back!" With that, Ranma blew on the whistle for a long moment. True to its nature, the many heads of the Orochi drooped down, asleep in a short order. He turned towards the forest. Was that someone walking towards them?  
  
In just a moment, Shinosuke walked out, holding his chest as if he were badly hurt. He blinked at the sight of the Orochi being flown back towards the springs on a glowing platter. His face paled in shock. "Akane? Ranma? But that's impossible!"  
  
Ranma laughed loudly. "That's the least impossible thing I've seen for days! Hey, Shinosuke, it's good to see you!"  
  
"You have feet! You can't be ghosts! But I saw the Orochi eat you!" he screamed out, fear apparent on his face.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Akane asked in consternation.  
  
Ranma's face snapped towards the pool, where the Orochi was being lowered in to slumber. His face turned pale. "He's right! How's that possible?!"  
  
"What are you talking about, Ranma?" Akane said from up above him.  
  
"It... our bodies are in there!"  
  
"Huh? How can you see that?" She tried to crane her neck to see the pool from her vantage.  
  
"Duh, the x-ray vision, remember?" Ranma said theatrically.  
  
"X-ray what?" she queried. She landed lightly next to him.  
  
"Don't you remember? I got these stupid powers a day or two ago."  
  
"No, I don't..."  
  
"Akane! Ranma! You managed to survive!" Ryoga called out from the forests edge.  
  
"That's debatable. I'm not even sure that they are Ranma and Akane." Shinosuke looked over at the other boy, before almost collapsing from the pains on his old wounds.  
  
"Huh? Does he need more water of life?" Ranma asked.  
  
"I guess so!" Akane pointed her fist into the air, a green beam shooting out and returning in just a moment with the water. With a flick of the wrist, she dumped it over the desperately wounded boy.  
  
Shinosuke gasped as the pain vanished instantly. "T-thanks."  
  
"Huh. Well, you sure don't look like ghosts." Ryoga glared at the two imposters.  
  
"I'm not a ghost, piggy," Ranma snapped right back.  
  
Akane nodded thoughtfully. "I think we may be from a different Earth. Both of us, actually. So... he did die, trying to save Nabiki. He's really gone." Her face was incredibly bleak.  
  
Ranma's face took on a momentary pang of remembered agony. "I guess we're pretty much in the same boat. I... I... don't know what to do. I don't know if I could go back. The Elite was starting to kill everyone who stood up to them. They were taking over Tokyo."  
  
"I don't even know if there's anything to go back to. Maybe Jordan destroyed the whole world." A sudden gleam appeared in her eye. "But we could take this Ranma and Akane's place! Here."  
  
"Is that the right thing to do?" Ranma asked.  
  
"What are we supposed to do? Leave three tragedies? Here, at least, they don't have to deal with losing us." Her voice choked suddenly, barely repressing sobs. "But if you really want to, I'm sure the ring can take you home."  
  
"No. There's nothing for me there. I'm game."  
  
"Just one thing. What about me?" Ryoga said, looking at the two strangely. His Ranma and Akane had died. The real ones. But two doppelgangers appeared right then to fill the void.  
  
"We just want to... not break our families hearts, you know. Could you not mention the switch?" Ranma asked.  
  
Ryoga stared at him with venom. The pleading look on Akane's face finally broke through to him. "I guess. But I'll be watching you, Ranma."  
  
"Thanks, buddy. Shall we?" Ranma asked, floating into the air.  
  
"Sure! See you around, Ryoga!" She joined Ranma in the air, arrowing off into the distance.  
  
"Hunh. Akane... the real one, is dead. I don't know what to do."  
  
"What?" asked the other boy as he picked up his rake.  
  
"About Ranma and Akane, you dip!" Ryoga shouted.  
  
"Who?"  
  
-  
  
Ranma and Akane walked out of an ally onto a street only a few blocks from the Tendo's home. Akane had willed herself to wear the same outfit that she'd worn to go to that forest along time ago. Ranma didn't have anything other than the clothes on his back, but he wasn't worried.  
  
"I'll just say the truth. I lost the pack and camping stuff. And the monster almost ate me." Ranma pointed out the remains of his clothes.  
  
"Um hmm." The young woman seemed to be distracted. "Ranma? How did you feel when you found out that I... your Akane had died?"  
  
The pigtailed martial artist stared at the sidewalk as they walked along. "Dead. Lost. I... killed a lot of the people that killed you. Her."  
  
"I think I know what you mean. I tried so hard to get revenge on the man who killed him. He was just too powerful. He was going to remake the universe to fit his wants. Now there are so many things that weren't said."  
  
"Did he ever tell you... you know?"  
  
Akane blushed. "No. Not even at the wedding attempt. I think he said it at Jusendo, but he couldn't say it again."  
  
"Sa funny, but she never did either. But she did seem happy when after Jusendo. At the wedding."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Um, yeah."  
  
They took sidelong glances at each other. There was an odd sense of detachment. So alike, but yet so different in small ways.  
  
"Ayah! Ranma come get new clothes at Cat Café? Shampoo make sure to fit clothes tightly to Ranma!" chirped the bubbly Amazon as she stopped her bike along the edge of the fence.  
  
"Nah! I've got a new set at home! Thanks!" Ranma held up his hands defensively.  
  
"Too bad. Shampoo have deliveries now. Bai bai!"  
  
"Bimbo," Akane muttered angrily. She blew it off though, as Shampoo hadn't stuck around long.  
  
She wasn't aware of Ranma newly increased senses, which heard that as if she'd yelled it out. Shrugging, Akane turned and continued walking home, Ranma right beside her. Ranma thought that over. He wasn't given to rumination normally, but his world view had been seriously undermined. He'd seen Akane nearly hurt or killed many times, but she'd always survived somehow. Her actual death had shattered his heart.  
  
His eyes traced her jaw. Strangely, just walking next to this strange doppelganger had already healed most of that pain. Was she really that important to him, he asked? Deep within his heart, he knew the answer. It scared him just how important she had become.  
  
He was dragged out of his reverie when Akane opened the gate. He blinked as he saw the ring on her finger disappear. That would be handy, he guessed.  
  
"Hey, it's the two love birds!" Nabiki chimed out loudly from one of the second story windows.  
  
"Ranma! So you succeeded in finding her and bringing her back!" Soun shouted as he ran forwards and hugged his wayward daughter and her backpack.  
  
"Da-ad!" Akane said, trying to act displeased, even as tears threatened to cascade out of her eyes.  
  
"So my ungrateful son finally returns!" Genma pontificated.  
  
Ranma lightly slammed into Genma's face with his bare feet. "Why am I ungrateful?"  
  
Kasumi smiled as another normal day ended at the Tendo household. "Dinner time!"  
  
-  
  
"I wasn't going to let that little terror try to worm her way into my dad's heart," Akane explained to her fiancé as they left the area.  
  
"Yeah, Ms. Hinako was a bit of a pest, wasn't she? You know, I think that ki drain thing of hers might still work on me," Ranma mused.  
  
"Are you still going to get into the magical cheating fight with Mousse?" she inquired, looking up the street to see if anyone they knew was around.  
  
"Not really. I have no idea how I managed to not be embarrassed the last time. I guess it really was childish." Ranma didn't seem to notice his self depreciating comments.  
  
"Um-hmm." So were quite a few of the things that she had done, now that she thought about it.  
  
For some strange reason, they had ended up in this past, of months ago. The only thing that had changed is that they had been eaten by the Orochi in this world. At least locally. There was a different Green Lantern running around, the one that Ranma remembered from his world.  
  
"So what will you do when Mousse shows up?"  
  
"I'll keep tabs on him. As soon as he shows up in Nerima with the glasses, they'll disappear." Ranma shrugged. His old rivals were only nuisances when it came to fighting.  
  
"Isn't that Mousse now?" she asked.  
  
Ranma looked up in surprise. "Huh? How did he get here?"  
  
"He's got the glasses. Isn't he early?"  
  
"I can see that," Ranma said, trembling slightly. Luckily he was still too far away to be affected. Unluckily, his enhanced vision was increasing the range of the seeing glasses power. That wasn't good.  
  
"Hmm?" Akane noted his trembling. She stepped back suddenly.  
  
"What? Ranma Saotome? I was going to use my new, ultimate power against Cologne first, but you're so much better!" Mousse started to cackle, the silly glasses on his face already. He continued walking up.  
  
Unable to shrug off the effects of the magic, Ranma prostrated himself on the ground in front of Mousse. "I'm Sorry! I'm sorry! I'm... sorry!" He couldn't help himself; the magic of the glasses forced him to apologize.  
  
"Wa ha ha ha! It works perfectly! Now to truly defeat him!" Mousse cackled maniacally. All of a sudden, a large medicine ball slammed into his face, shattering the glasses. He shook his head to clear his daze. "Why did you interfere with our fight? How dare you!"  
  
"Like you could ever fight Ranma," Akane razzed Mousse. "Using a magic item like that is cowardly!" She pursed her lips. Let's see if she could follow her own advice. Tensely, she pivoted sideways slightly, raising her fists defensively.  
  
"What? I'll show you!" Mousse screamed, pulling out two broadswords. He suddenly felt a whirlwind hit him three times. He staggered back and shook his head. "So, you want to fight me now, do you? Well, for your trouble, I'll kill you!"  
  
Ranma was intensely focused on the fight, staying one slash ahead of the Chinese warrior. He couldn't let that hit him or else the charade would be up. He lashed out with his left foot while ducking beneath another cut, barely hitting the blind martial artist.  
  
Mouse staggered back from Ranma's blow. His strength had increased, Mousse could feel that! "I'll be back later, Ranma Saotome! And I will defeat you!"  
  
Ranma stared after the other boy, making sure he really did leave. "Hmm."  
  
"Say, doesn't Cologne have a whole bunch more of these sort of trinkets?" Akane subtly made the dark green medicine ball disappear, tossing it into an alleyway.  
  
"Yeah. So we'd better go make sure that Mousse doesn't get a hold of those." Ranma paused, feeling a slight tingle up his back. Warily, he looked around. There didn't appear to be something there, but he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.  
  
"Something wrong?" Akane asked curiously. She looked around herself, trying to see what had put him on edge. Now that she thought about it, she could swear she could feel something too.  
  
All of a sudden, the errant feeling disappeared.  
  
"Odd." Ranma had an intense look on his face.  
  
"Come on, We've got to get to the Cat Café!" Akane started to run down the road. Just a moment later, Ranma trotted down the road after her.  
  
A minute later, Genma stepped out from the shadows a tree no farther than five paces from where they had been talking to one another. Light glinted off of his glasses. His eyes were narrowed in thought. That shouldn't have been possible at the boy's level of training. And for Akane to have sensed him was unconscionable! "What changed you on that last trip, boy?"  
  
-  
  
The curtain bells chimed as Ranma and Akane entered the Cat Café. Cologne was sitting behind the counter, stirring up a trundle of food. "Well, if it isn't Son-in-Law. What brings you here?"  
  
"Hiya, Old Ghoul!" Ranma took the rap on the head and pretended to wince while rubbing the 'sore' spot.  
  
"Who's an old ghoul?"  
  
"Hey! I just ran into Mousse. He had some weird glasses that made me grovel and apologize." Ranma paused, unsure how to broach the idea of the other 'cheat' items.  
  
"Ah, cowardly items to be used to protect the weak. Usually the infirm or bullied."  
  
"Ayah! Mousse go too far!"  
  
"Well, I managed to break it, so we don't have to worry about that anymore," Akane said forcibly.  
  
"How weak Kitchen Destroyer do that?"  
  
"I threw a ball at them and broke them, okay!" Akane started to fume. And she did throw it, too!  
  
"Should have used knife! Then maybe Mousse get point."  
  
"Children. It's doubtful that he has anymore items. I'll go and double check to make sure that the Amazon treasures I keep here are safe," Cologne said before hopping off.  
  
"Ranma take Shampoo on date? We leave Pervert Girl here? Is good for husband to take wife out!" Shampoo latched onto Ranma.  
  
"Jeez, how many times do I have to tell you, I'm not your husband," Ranma complained.  
  
"Yeah, how many times does he have to tell you?"  
  
Magically, tears appeared in Shampoo's eyes. "Ranma no like Shampoo no more?"  
  
"Did I say that?" he asked rhetorically.  
  
"Ranma, answer her directly!" Akane smacked him lightly across the back of the head for effect. She winced at the pain in her hand afterwards. Ouch. She'd have to remember to put an aura on her hand before she did that.  
  
"Shampoo, I don't mind you none, but I'm not going to marry you! I've told you that hundreds of times!"  
  
Cologne shook her head ruefully from the shadows. Something had set her on edge since the couple entered the room. And how Shampoo would have been surprised to hear her think of them that way. Her bulging eyes narrowed as she tried to sense what was wrong. The two auras in front of her were significantly different, but the same in all important aspects. She could still feel the flavor of their individuality, but it was as if they had become older. Or gone through some drastic event. She frowned at the strength of Ranma's aura.  
  
"Shampoo no believe you! You just trying to trick Shampoo!"  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Whatever!"  
  
"Son-in-Law, the treasures are safe. I'll be sure to watch out for Mousse's tricks. There are many ways to counter such shenanigans."  
  
"Alright! Thanks, Old Bat!" Ranma ducked the swing at his head and bounded outside, quickly followed by his fiancée.  
  
"Hey, wait up!"  
  
"Shampoo."  
  
"Yes, Grandmother?"  
  
"I want you to take over here for a while. I need to go out." With that, she bounded outside; a blur on a stick, moving faster than the eye could follow. Within moments, she was above and in front of the pair. She frowned in thought. Ranma was too stubborn to confront directly. Looking around, she tried to find one of Ranma's numerous rivals.  
  
"Oh how beautiful is the flower in the eve's dim light."  
  
Ah, buffoon at two o'clock. She situated herself on a roof near an ally that would lead Kuno towards Ranma. She focused her will, letting her warrior's aura impinge on Kuno.  
  
"Farsooth, what be this feeling? Come out and face Tatewaki Kuno like a true warrior!" After a moment of staring at the ally, he raised his bokken high and charged down the length. "I will show you to trifle with a Samurai born!"  
  
Ranma was walking along casually when he heard that last bit. "Huh? Kuno?"  
  
"Ha! I accept your challenge, villain!"  
  
"My challenge? You're attacking me!"  
  
And now to set the snare. Cologne extended her aura, subtly changed to mimic a cobra, entrancing her prey to not move, to watch intently.  
  
Akane tapped her foot slowly as she watched Ranma dodge away from Kuno. Why did that sort of thing always happen? She snapped herself out of her stupor. What was she doing? Let's see, if they were headed towards school, she should be able to cut them off by cutting through this empty lot!  
  
"Akane." A blurred streak landed in front of her.  
  
"Cologne? What are you doing here?" Akane blinked in surprise at the ancient Amazon.  
  
"I wish to know what happened to you and Ranma." She pointed her staff threateningly at her.  
  
"That's none of your business!" The young school girl raised her fists up defensively, shifting her stance slightly. Her heart was thrumming.  
  
She didn't deny that something happened. Hmm. "You dare challenge me, girl? I am the repository for three thousand years of Amazon lore! You are nothing to me!" The crone was starting to exude an angry aura.  
  
"I'm not going to let you bully me!" she declared pluckily.  
  
"Then defend yourself!" It would be good to teach this girl a lesson! Besides, it had been a while since she'd actually gotten in a fight.  
  
She snapped her staff at the girl, forcing her to block and dodge. She was startled at how well this girl was defending herself. This girl was as good as many Amazons. Surprising, considering how poorly she typically fared versus her own challengers. "Well, well."  
  
Sweat beaded on Akane's brow minutes later. Cologne must be playing with her! She blocked another three staff strikes, only to receive a punishing knife-hand jab to her sternum, knocking her back. "I won't back down!"  
  
"Yes, you will!" More punches and staff hits worked through the girl's defenses, leaving bruises and welts. "All you are doing is prolonging the pain!"  
  
Ranma must be still tied up with Kuno. The only one who could save her would be herself. Her ring suddenly flashed into existence on her hand, pushing the surprised matriarch back.  
  
Blocks away, Ranma dodged another blow while looking off into the distance. That had sounded like an energy blast.  
  
"An opening!" Kuno crowed; striking thin air as Ranma disappeared into the wind. "Eh? He has fled my justice! The craven coward!"  
  
Cologne narrowed her eyes. A functional Ring of Power! This had taken a very unexpected turn. "Where did you get that ring? And the lantern that comes with it? Those are treasures of the Amazon tribe! Stolen treasures!" Although, Cologne thought that she might have seen the ring back among her items at the café.  
  
"I don't know what ring you are talking about. This one was given to me by a Guardian!" A glowing sheath of emerald fire surrounded her, though she didn't switch her clothes for her uniform.  
  
"I know the weakness of the jade fire, girl! I'll take back those treasures over your body if I have to!" She twirled her staff. It would be a pity to kill her! Her staff snapped out, faster than the eye could follow, only to bounce off the aura covering her flinching face.  
  
"I'm not the Sentinel, Cologne. My ring doesn't have any weakness. Not to wood. Not Yellow." The ring flashed again, covering the entire lot with a clear bubble. That should trap her in here.  
  
Ranma slammed into that bubble unprepared, ricocheting into the sky with a loud thwump.  
  
"Ranma?" Akane turned her head to see Ranma flying off into the air.  
  
"Eagle Air Strike!" Cologne called out, sending out a ki blast slamming into the girl, catching her off guard.  
  
The bubble of energy disappeared, even as Akane shook her head and stood up from where she'd been knocked. Her weakened sheath only muted the next three staccato blows. A staff appeared in her hands, blocking the next two blows, even as her defenses increased back to their previous level.  
  
Cologne's next blow was stopped by a hand grabbing her staff. "That's enough. Stop it."  
  
"Where did you come from?" Cologne asked Ranma. She hadn't even seen him before he grabbed it.  
  
"I was only about ten blocks away. What are you doing?" Ranma asked; his voice cold and hard.  
  
Irritation welled up in her. "This matter doesn't concern you." It was time to remind this whelp just who was the master and who the child was. She snapped ki to change her leverage and fling Ranma high into the sky.  
  
Ranma didn't budge an inch. "If it involves Akane, yes it does." He took the staff from her and snapped it in half.  
  
"I see. You have changed, both of you. I will discover what happened." Cologne turned and bounced off. How had he done that? Something unusual was going on.  
  
"She's going to figure it out soon." Akane had a serious look on her face.  
  
"Yeah. I'm starting to think this idea may not be so good."  
  
-  
  
"There was a rumored sighting of a woman that could create green flame. In Japan."  
  
"I thought the super hero known as Fire was already incapacitated?" replied a dark figure to a hardly visible shadow.  
  
"She is. There could be others like her. That would be unseemly and necessitate a change in plans."  
  
A third dark figure stood forward. "I have no plans for a week. Let me ferret out this new fire user."  
  
"Do you feel up to it?"  
  
"They don't know my weakness. And I don't have to show myself at all. She will never even know that I was there."  
  
"Then do it. If she has no allies or connections, kill her. We want no mistakes at all this time."  
  
-  
  
Akane nodded to herself. Ranma had soundly defeated Mousse again. She looked over at Ranma, noting his intense concentration. He was psyching himself... herself up to deal with Ryu Kumon. A man who knew the secret of the Yamisenken, the path of the noisy thief. One half of sealed Saotome forbidden arts. She was worried, as Ranma hadn't told her how he was going to deal with the situation.  
  
There he was, Ranma thought to herself. Huh, who would have expected that Happosai was behind that bear escaping and rampaging into this gathering? That would be another thing that the old creep owed him. Nobody hurt or threatened his mother. No one.  
  
"Ranko! Akane!" Nodoka called out as she walked towards them.  
  
The same bear from last time roared, seemingly insane with anger. People around it ran off in panic as it charged directly towards Ranma's mother. A figure landed in front of it, its yell startling the bear for just a moment as his arms swept the bear's front paws wide apart. A massive kick sent the bear off into slumber land.  
  
"Oh, thank you! I don't know how ever I can repay you!" Nodoka exclaimed loudly.  
  
"It wasn't anything special," the young man said. His green fatigues and black tank top gave him a deadly serious look. He turned to leave.  
  
"Wait! Who are you?" Nodoka asked while trotting a few steps after him.  
  
"I am Ranma Saotome." He turned to leave again.  
  
"Ranma? My dear son, Ranma?" Nodoka started to move towards him to embrace the young man.  
  
Steam gushed out from an open area of the road to their side, the heat scalding even from this distance. Akane barely saw a blur enter the geyser.  
  
"No, he isn't. I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma declared, his aura burning brightly, his features looking incredibly angry. "I'm the real Ranma."  
  
"Heh? Really?" Ryu asked. "I've been looking for you for a long time. Hyah!" he screamed out as he dropped his bag and tried to kick Ranma as he had the bear.  
  
"That isn't anything special," Ranma countered; dodging the blow by centimeters. He lashed out a flurry of punches, carefully gauged to approximate his old abilities. "Just yelling and distracting your opponent isn't going to win this fight."  
  
Damn, he's good, Ryu thought to himself. Those punches stung! "I'll show you!" With that, he lashed out with a set of powerful kicks and punches, each missing by just a little. It was as if he was taunting him!  
  
Ranma twisted in mid air as he flipped over the surprised Ryu. He snapped two more chops into the unprepared boy, staggering him. A sudden breeze disturbed the fight, leaving only Ryu staggering on the ground.  
  
"What?" Akane and Nodoka cried out.  
  
"Heh, guess he couldn't stick around to finish the fight." Ryu stood back up.  
  
"Akane, is this Ranma?" Nodoka's deep blue eyes stared intently at the young man.  
  
"No." Akane glared at the imposter.  
  
"And who are you to say this?" Ryu asked as he brushed himself off.  
  
"I am Akane Tendo, Ranma's fiancée. That's who, jerk."  
  
Ryu suddenly broke out into a nasty, short laugh. "You got me. I'm not Ranma, but I've been looking for him to repay an old debt. Does he practice the Saotome School of Martial Arts?"  
  
"Of course he does." Akane met his gaze with her glare.  
  
"We aren't finished, creep." Ranma's clothes were torn and shredded, but he appeared prepared to continue to fight. He was at the edge of the crowd.  
  
"You didn't run, eh?" Ryu turned to look at Ranma, seemingly appraising him. "Very well, I challenge you, Ranma Saotome. I challenge you for the Umisenken."  
  
Ranma put his most surprised expression on his face. "The Umisenken?"  
  
"Don't tell me your father didn't teach you about your family's secret techniques? This'll be a piece of cake otherwise."  
  
Genma rubbed his sore jaw. He hadn't thought that Ranma could have stood up against him like he just had. It had been brutal and short. Genma hadn't stood a chance, as each blow he'd landed had felt like he'd struck concrete. Very hard concrete, he had to admit.  
  
"I don't need no secret technique to defeat you!" Ranma declared truthfully. In all actuality, he already knew the Umisenken, the brother school to the Yamisenken that Ryu used.  
  
Ranma seemed very confident about this fight. And showing himself in front of Nodoka. He would let this play out. "Ranma. I forbid you to fight him."  
  
"Whatcha talking about, Pop?" Ranma asked, surprised to see his father show his neck in this confrontation in front of his Mother.  
  
"You have no chance at defeating him without the power of the Umisenken. I have been remiss, my boy, in holding back my teachings of these sealed arts. You are old enough to learn it, so that it may stay a part of the Saotome School of Martial Arts. Come with me."  
  
"Hey! What about my challenge, old man?" Ryu cried out in frustration.  
  
"Ranma will accept your challenge when I say he is ready. Unless you wish to face me, the master of the Yamisenken and the Umisenken?" Genma's eyes glinted coldly, suddenly reminding everyone present that, yes, he was a martial arts master.  
  
Ryu's nose flared for just a second. "Very well. I'll be in the area."  
  
Genma and Ranma turned back to leave, when Ranma was suddenly engulfed in a tight hug. "Ranma, dearest, it really is you!"  
  
Genma nearly froze in fear. "Why, Nodoka! What a pleasant surprise."  
  
Ranma had a strangely flat expression on his face. "Mother. It's... good to see you."  
  
"My handsome young boy is all grown up! I was worried that you were avoiding me." Nodoka was smiling broadly, her whole body suffused with happiness.  
  
Ranma opened his mouth for a second and then finally closed it. "We... were. Kinda. It's hard to explain."  
  
"Why don't we go home first?" Akane interjected. "I don't think this is something we should be discussing in public."  
  
"Of course, Akane! What a good idea!"  
  
-  
  
Soun nearly fainted dead away at the sight of his old friend walking in with his own son and wife in tow. "Nodoka! What a pleasant surprise!" he croaked out, visions of ritual suicide happening inside the dojo dancing through his head.  
  
"Why thank you, Soun. I'm very happy to be here." Nodoka didn't look very happy.  
  
"Mr. Tendo, may I borrow your living room for a family meeting?" Ranma asked seriously.  
  
Soun nodded even as he broke out into tears. Nodoka looked on curiously as Ranma and Genma ushered into the living room.  
  
"Um, Akane... Are you... Uh, are you coming along?" Ranma asked at the doorway.  
  
Akane blinked in surprise as the significance of that request filtered through to her. She smiled shyly and followed the Saotomes into the room.  
  
Nodoka noted that Genma and Ranma were kneeling across from her, while Akane was sitting at Ranma's side facing no one directly. So the matter was a Saotome matter, not a Tendo/Saotome matter.  
  
Cooly, she asked, "What is going on, husband?"  
  
Genma started to sweat visibly. "Here, let me show you-"  
  
"Akane, could you, um, get some water?" Ranma asked quickly, even as he blocked his father's throw.  
  
"Of course." Akane stood up and headed into the kitchen.  
  
Tense minutes passed slowly, until Akane reappeared with a steaming kettle and a pitcher of ice water. Two little cups sat on the tray.  
  
"It's hard to explain, so I guess I'll show you."  
  
His hand was intercepted by Akane's small, soft grip. She filled a cup with cold water and at Ranma's nod, dumped it over his head.  
  
Nodoka's eyes almost bulged out of her head. Her handsome young son had turned into... "Ranko?"  
  
She shook her head in negation, even as Akane dumped more cold water over Genma, triggering his own curse.  
  
"Perhaps you had best explain this?" Ranma's mother asked quietly.  
  
"Well, on our last training trip in China, me and Pop got cursed. Cold water turns us into these forms, hot water turns us back."  
  
"So why 'Ranko'?"  
  
"That was Pop's dumb idea," Ranma explained. "I didn't even know about the seppuku pledge. He decided we should hide until we could figure something out."  
  
"Akane?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Is that the truth?"  
  
"That pretty well sums it up," Akane replied.  
  
"You know Ranma better than I do. Is he 'manly'?" Nodoka looked her eye to eye, trying to see if she was lying or telling the truth.  
  
"Yes, Aunty. He is. Despite his curse, he is manly. He can be rude, crude and a royal pain in the butt, but... he's manly." Akane had a tortured smile on her face, unshed tears in her eyes.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Ranma."  
  
"Uh, yes?" Ranma's hands were tightly clenched in front of her.  
  
"I am going to consider your father's pledge to raise you as a man amongst men to be fulfilled. Do not make me regret this decision."  
  
"Um, no, Ma'am. I won't."  
  
"Come here and give your mother a hug. Now I know why 'Ranko' was such a tomboy. That must have been torture for you." She hugged her child to her tightly.  
  
"Yeah, well, they don't call it a curse for nothing."  
  
-  
  
"Okay, old man. What was the deal with that guy?" Ranma demanded hours later, in the dojo. They had just locked Soun and Akane out from the top- secret training. Ranma was trying to stifle the strange feeling of déjà vu.  
  
"First, you've been holding out on me, boy! I could barely hurt you!" Genma shouted.  
  
"Well, I've been fighting people like Ryoga and Cologne! Didn't you expect me to get tougher?"  
  
Genma stared at him flatly for a second. He was holding something back, he could tell. "That is true. Very well, on to the training. I will show you only once!" Genma said, pontificating.  
  
"What sort of training is that, you idiot!" An old thought percolated through his mind. "You don't remember the whole thing, do you?"  
  
"I'm ashamed that you would think-"  
  
"I was right! You don't remember it all, do you? I can't believe that! What sort of master are you?" Ranma screamed at him.  
  
"It's been almost a decade, son! I do remember the important parts! Watch!" With that, Genma took a very soft looking preying mantis stance, his eyes glazing over. Even while still watching, Ranma's eyes just slid off of his father's form.  
  
Ranma barely felt the wind disturb him as a flurry of punches struck up his back. Ranma pretended to grunt in pain, tumbling to his face.  
  
Outside, Akane and Soun seemed to be watching carefully. Soun was internally astounded by Genma's skill at smothering his aura. Akane was fascinated by what she could see. She had willed the ring to allow her to see what was going on and it had granted her x-ray-like vision.  
  
She smiled wistfully. Would Ranma ever even think to teach her these sort of techniques? Probably not.  
  
Genma stepped out of his invisibility and helped Ranma to his feet. "So, what did you see?"  
  
Ranma answered truthfully, "Well, you did something to your aura and then hit me up my spine. Hey! What happened to my clothes?"  
  
"That is one of the most important tenants of the style. It is based on thievery and trickery. It is designed to help you steal your opponent's strength and use it against him."  
  
"So what is the Yamisenken?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Ah... well, that's not important."  
  
"Pop."  
  
Genma sighed. "It too is based on thievery, but only as a noisy thief would rob you. Violently and loudly. It uses many techniques of distraction and opening your opponent's defenses. Quite the opposite of the Umisenken. I'll leave you to practice all of the techniques I've shown you."  
  
-  
  
The next few days were spent in doing exactly that, practicing the moves and concepts that he'd been shown. It happened almost exactly as Akane and Ranma both remembered. He stole the floorboards out from under the whole house. He rearranged everyone's clothing drawers. Almost nothing seemed to be sacred.  
  
In Akane's darkened room the next night, she finally felt his presence again. He was getting better at hiding his aura, much better than before. But the one good thing about his constant practice, it allowed her to practice sensing him.  
  
"Ranma."  
  
Ranma didn't appear for a second. When he did, he was crouched over in the soft stance of the Umisenken. "Yes?" he asked curiously, but cautiously. He vaguely remembered this from last time. Akane had literally kicked him out of the room.  
  
"You... don't have to sneak into my room." Akane stared at the ceiling, not even looking up at her 'fiancé.'  
  
Ranma's voice quavered. "What?"  
  
"It's... life is so hectic, so crazy again." Akane raised her hand to send out a beam that covered the wall, the floor and the floor with a very dark, green coating. Ranma actually felt himself get lifted off the ground. "We never have any time. Or privacy, really. What about us?"  
  
Ranma sighed as he relaxed into a forward kneeling position. "I... I don't even know if there is 'us'. I almost feel like I'm betraying her."  
  
"I know... how you feel... sometimes. It's... just so... lonely." Akane sniffled loudly, tears streaming down from her eyes. She curled up as she rolled to her side.  
  
Long minutes later, she realized that she was being gently rocked by Ranma, who was making soothing noises to her. He had picked her up so gently she hadn't even realized it.  
  
"Thanks, Ranma. I... really needed that."  
  
He could hear her heartbeat speed up, but did nothing to stop her slow advance. In almost agonizing slowness, their lips finally touched. The kissed turned from tender to fierce, until Akane broke the kiss with a gasp.  
  
"W-wow."  
  
Akane smiled at his comment. "Yeah. Wow." Her lips dipped closer in again kiss him.  
  
-  
  
Ranma stood at ease the next morning, strangely calm for the first time in his life. They were at an open field near his mother's place.  
  
Across from him stood Ryu Kumon, ready and primed. "If you lose, you will give me the Umisenken, Ranma Saotome. With that, I can rebuild my father's dojo and set his spirit at ease."  
  
Ranma stared at him impassively. "I won't lose. You will seal up your knowledge of the Yamisenken and promise to never use it again when you lose."  
  
Ryu shrugged. "I've focused my whole life on this art; I won't let you take it away from me!"  
  
Soun sat near, with Genma, Nodoka and Akane watching intently. "Very well. Begin." He dropped his hand to signal the start of the fight.  
  
"You should be prepared to lose, Saotome!" Ryu crowed as he advanced. He blinked as Ranma seemed to seep into a loose, mantis-like stance, seemingly unfocused on the combat.  
  
Between one eye blink and another, he lost track of the slightly smaller boy. He felt a wind and a stabbing pain up his back. He rolled forward and twisted around, seemingly ready to attack anyone. He swore under his breath.  
  
Where was he? How could he use any of the moves of the Yamisenken if he couldn't even see his opponent? "Where are you, coward-?"  
  
His rant was cut off as more blows that are painful rained up his bare back.  
  
Genma ha-hummed a bit to himself. Ranma wasn't even letting this Ryu boy even fight him. He'd rarely seen Ranma this focused in a battle.  
  
Ryu staggered to his feet. He crossed his arms in front of him, focusing on his breathing. "Demon God Assault Bomb!" He threw the ki-charged vacuum blades randomly, hoping beyond hope that he could actually hit his foe.  
  
To him and the people watching the fight, the barest hint of a blur appeared to catch many of the blades, especially the ones that were headed towards the three bystanders.  
  
'Has he really mastered the technique that well?' Genma thought to himself. 'I theorized that you could use it to capture your enemy's ki, but I never succeeded myself.'  
  
"You shouldn't have done that," Ranma stated loudly, his voice cold even to his own ears. His rage almost mastered him, as it had just after his Akane had been killed.  
  
"You fool!" Genma shouted, distracting Ranma for just a moment.  
  
"I have you!" Ryu shouted, swooping Ranma up in a tight bear hug.  
  
Ranma pretended to grunt in exertion, even as he head butted his opponent out of the hold. Ryu held his nose for a second and then wiped the blood away. "Ha, the technique isn't perfect! This fight is far from over."  
  
"No, it's over now." Ranma disappeared again, his only presence was known by the blows that started to strike Ryu from all around him.  
  
Only Akane noticed that debris from the fight was also starting to disappear. Watching as closely as possible, she saw the tiny puffs of dust from his fists striking the ground, loosening the dirt.  
  
Ryu again tried to strike at Ranma with his vacuum blades, to no avail; they just disappeared like everything else.  
  
Ranma reappeared on top of the temple's roof, a gigantic bag slung over his shoulder. Without a word, he charged. Ryu fell into the trap, throwing an even bigger ki attack at Ranma. The ground suddenly exploded under him.  
  
When the dust settled, Ryu was buried up to his neck and trapped. Ranma stood on top of the pile. "It's over."  
  
Ryu snarled in anger, but finally bowed his head. "Y-yes. As agreed, I'll seal the Yamisenken." In almost an eye blink, he was unburied.  
  
Ranma dusted his hands on his pant legs. "Good." A strange look appeared on his face. "You wouldn't mind some help in rebuilding your dojo, would you?"  
  
"How can I, when I don't have a style to teach?" Ryu demanded.  
  
"I could teach you Anything Goes. All the normal stuff." Ranma slowly held out his hand, for a western handshake.  
  
Ryu looked at the hand like it was a viper that was about to strike. "You would do that?"  
  
"Sure. I don't got no grudge against you." Ranma accepted the return of the handshake.  
  
"My manly son!" Nodoka cried out in happiness, just before hugging the startled boy. "Only a true man among men would be so gracious to a defeated foe!"  
  
"Uh, sure, Mom." Ranma awkwardly patted her on the back.  
  
"Well, we should be off! We still have to go back and pick up your things from the Tendo's." Nodoka didn't miss the glance and pained expression.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Ahem. Now that you've finished your training for this fight, your mother and I have decided that it is time for you to go home." Genma gestured towards Nerima, where his house lay.  
  
"But what about..." Ranma didn't want to leave Akane. But how was he going to say that without being forced to marry her today?  
  
"I'm sure that you'll have to spend some time over there for training. You don't think Soun will mind if Ranma keeps a change of clothing and the guest room ready, would you?" Nodoka asked Akane as they walked towards the dojo.  
  
Akane broke into a smile. "No, I'm sure he won't mind at all."  
  
"Hey, Ranma! I'll see you tomorrow, at that high school of yours."  
  
"Sure, Ryu!"  
  
-  
  
Ranma was lost in thought as he walked along the fence. Happosai had harassed Akane for the tears he'd needed for his rejuvenation potion, not him this time. She had fared all right, but he really didn't like being home already, away from her. That was not a change he liked. Luckily, with his speed, he was easily able to zip over to her house to walk her to and from school.  
  
Without any warning that he heard, a bicycle crashed on top of him.  
  
"Ranma-husband! We have problem!" Shampoo said unhappily, of which she was the rider of said bike that perched on top of him.  
  
"Whatcha want, Shampoo?" Ranma asked from where he was sprawled on the top of the fence. Rink and Pink already?  
  
Akane's thoughts mirrored Ranma's thought. "Yeah, what do you want?"  
  
"Come to give warning to Ranma! Old enemy may show up to attack you!"  
  
"Which old enemy?" Ranma asked, feigning ignorance.  
  
"Article about Shampoo and Ranma appear in village paper from home!" Shampoo pulled out an article written in Chinese.  
  
"I can't read Chinese!" Ranma complained loudly.  
  
"Ranma no worry about! Shampoo explain! Article say that Shampoo and her airen are happily married and run Cat Café! That the problem! Enemy now know where Shampoo live!" Shampoo normally would have gone into more detail, but Ranma had been going out of his way to avoid her. And her Grandmother was acting odd about the whole situation too.  
  
Akane was not the reason she was holding back what she had written in!  
  
"Married?" Akane screamed, surprising herself by the little acting that it required to pull off her anger.  
  
"Shampoo! You heard me last week, didn't you?" Ranma asked of her hotly.  
  
"Ranma just being silly and poor husband. Shampoo be more than happy to teach you to be good husband though." Shampoo suddenly smiled. "Shampoo have to leave now. Many deliveries to do!" With that, she cycled off at top speed.  
  
"Ears that can hear a pin drop over a mile away, huh?" Akane said snidely.  
  
Ranma glared at her from where he lay on top of the fence. "What's it to you? I had something on my mind!"  
  
"Fine, be that way! I'll see you tomorrow!" Akane flounced off down the road in a huff.  
  
"I'll never understand her," Ranma said to himself. He shrugged to himself as he stood up and started walking away. Let's see, if things continue on like they did last time, Rink should be showing up just about... now.  
  
Ranma suddenly flung himself away from some weird blast that hit the fence he was walking on. Landing gracefully, he shouted out, "Who's there?"  
  
The fully cloaked up woman near where he had been standing on the fence spoke ominously, "Wind direction, okay!"  
  
"Hmm."  
  
"You Shampoo's husband? Over," she asked, ending her statement oddly.  
  
"Yeah, over my... dead body?" Ranma finished as he watched the seeds floating in the air to him. "You know, you don't really look that threatening." Ranma smirked to himself. He had nothing to worry from this young woman. He bounced up to the fence top to stand in front of her.  
  
Just like he remembered, it started to drizzle. "Weather, okay!" With a quick dash, she ran off even as Ranma shook his head. "Just drop by to say hello! Bai bai!"  
  
"What a nutcase!" Ranma said to herself as her curse activated. Just as she had remembered, the seeds sprouted into the poisonous plants that incapacitated her last time. Ranma smiled and started to laugh as she started to pick off the man-shaped roots. At the tingling feeling, she gasped in surprise. "Oh, damn!"  
  
-  
  
"I... really didn't give him much of a chance, did I?" Akane ruminated to herself. She trotted off in the direction that Ranma would be walking off. She wanted to see how he handled the situation this time. In moments, she surprisingly saw a familiar figure lying on the ground. "Ranma!"  
  
She leaned over Ranma, seeing a very disconcerting scene. Ranma seemed to have been just as badly affected by the poison as she remembered.  
  
"Aiieah! Someone has poisoned this poor innocent girl with a Mandragora root! Very poisonous root that-"  
  
"Yeah, yeah! Can you do anything for her?" Akane yelled out as young woman started to jam plugs in Ranma's ears.  
  
"Plug ears!" the strange girl said, even as she started to throw screaming roots off the boy turned girl. Moments later she started to concoct a weird mixture from jars of odd things. She forced a large bowl of the stuff down the red head's throat. "Antidote! Over!" As Ranma recovered, she exclaimed, "You are very lucky! You could have died!"  
  
"Considering you poisoned me!" Ranma screamed out into her face, scaring the girl.  
  
"Why... you act like this! I just try to help!" She ran off in reaction to the threatening transsexual.  
  
"You... dummy! You knew that she wasn't the one who poisoned you!" Akane snapped out a moment later, smacking him on the back of the head; her ring flashing for just a second to protect her from Ranma's tougher than iron skin.  
  
"What? Oh, yeah. Damn." Ranma shook her head, trying to clear up the after affects of the poison.  
  
"I suppose you'll want to head on over to the Cat Café now, don't you?"  
  
"Er, yeah."  
  
-  
  
"Well, that sucked," Ranma said to himself as they walked into the front of the house.  
  
"I can't believe you tried to stick that thing in my hair!" Akane fumed.  
  
"Ah, don't be sore about it. It was just a joke. I don't really think that, you know."  
  
"So, are they here already?" Akane asked. She blinked for a second. Duh, she could do that herself. Her eyes glowed green for just a second. Simultaneously with Ranma, she replied, "Yup. There they are."  
  
Ranma looked at her in puzzlement. Why'd she ask if she could check herself? "You know that Kasumi is going to..."  
  
"Akane. Ranma! Welcome home! Ranma, would you mind taking a bath before supper?" Kasumi called out, leaving into the living room from the kitchen.  
  
"Sure Kasumi." He'd let this play out. No way was he going to let those two get the better of him.  
  
Minutes later, Shampoo had been kidnapped again, the bathing room had been trashed and Ranma and Akane were trotting over to Cat Café to ask Cologne for some advice. Just like clockwork, she gave Ranma the silly sword and shield that were supposed to help him versus the poisonous duo.  
  
Akane watched Ranma as he climbed up the gigantic vine that had suddenly sprouted up on the high school's ground. Now she had to wait until dark again. It wouldn't be much longer.  
  
"Akane."  
  
"Yes, Cologne?" Akane asked warily.  
  
"I tracked down where the battery ended up that I accused you of stealing. It is in the hands of an American super hero who was known as the Green Lantern."  
  
Akane tensed at that and then nodded slowly. "Yes, I know of him. He goes by the name of Sentinel now."  
  
"I also learned that there used to be many Green Lanterns, from beyond the stars. They all had their own batteries too. But they were supposedly killed by another American Green Lantern."  
  
"Yes," Akane said tersely. She did not want to talk about Hal Jordan.  
  
"So your ring is one of those?" Just like the newest American Green Lantern.  
  
Akane nodded, blinking back tears. Gods, when would it stop hurting?  
  
Interesting reaction. Something traumatic happened when she was given her ring. "So what do you plan to do now?"  
  
Akane let the ring appear on her finger. She looked at it for a long time. "I was going to be a hero. Now... I'm not sure."  
  
"You could easily defeat Ranma with such a powerful magic ring, of course."  
  
Akane smiled wistfully. "Maybe, Ranma's never easy to defeat." She sat down and sighed. "I really do want to help. I've just been afraid that someone might figure out who my family is..." ...again.  
  
"Your family has a rich heritage of warriors." Cologne looked her over gravely.  
  
"That is true, isn't it? I'll think about it."  
  
Cologne looked up at the gigantic flower. "Ranma should have been back by now. Something has happened to him."  
  
"Probably got himself paralyzed." Akane stood up.  
  
"Luckily, I came prepared. These three items will-"  
  
"I already have the only 'magic item' I'll need," Akane said as the ring started to pulsate with a blinding light. Without a thought, she flew off towards the flower far up above.  
  
"Hmm." Cologne tamped her pipe. She was getting closer to the secret of that ring.  
  
Inhuman eyes noted the emerald meteor flying up into the sky. "Ah, the green fire I see."  
  
"This is not good!" Pink said to her sister.  
  
"Good it is not, over!" Rink replied. She held her smarting fist, which had bruised knuckles.  
  
"Over is right, you two. Release Ranma and Shampoo!" Akane demanded, a luminous aura covering her.  
  
Shampoo could not believe her eyes. Where had Akane come from, how had she come by this power?  
  
"Why you interfere! We only care about Shampoo and Ranma! Leave, before we hurt you!" Rink shouted out.  
  
"Over!" Pink nodded in confirmation.  
  
"Ranma is my fiancé, not Shampoo's," Akane snarled. The ring blasted out with two beams, slamming the two Chinese herbalists.  
  
"Ouch!" they cried in unison. They started cowering; this was not what they expected.  
  
"Cure them!"  
  
"We can't stand up to her," Rink exclaimed. She turned to Pink who was already fixing an antidote. In moments, they were forcing the anti- paralyzing potion down their throats.  
  
"So, a second Green Lantern. Good." Blinding scarlet beams of energy slammed into the unprepared girl's back, sending her flying.  
  
"Akane!" Ranma screamed out as he became capable of moving again. Miles away, he saw her standing up groggily. He spun on the woman who was floating in the air just a dozen or so feet away. "You bitch, why did you do that?"  
  
"She's an impediment to our grand plan," the normally dressed woman said. She heard from the others telepathically that the attack was going on already. "So she has to die."  
  
"Over my dead body-urk!" Ranma exclaimed as he was hit with twin scarlet beams from her eyes. Much to everyone's surprise, he wasn't knocked flying or disintegrated like they expected.  
  
"Who are you?" the mysterious woman exclaimed.  
  
"I'm Ranma Saotome. And no one threatens Akane. No one." With that, Ranma threw himself at her, smashing her with a powerful blow that actually staggered her.  
  
The two figures floated in the air, drifting with the wind. The strange woman rubbed her jaw at the point where Ranma had punched her. "That wasn't a very strong punch. Although, I am interested in how you are flying."  
  
"Who are you? Are you with Kaji and his Japanese Elite?" Ranma demanded.  
  
"I am Ter'kel, one of the new masters of humanity. I am a white Martian." With those words, her form melted and shifted, turning into an inhuman bipedal humanoid. It was androgynous and fearful looking. It was all claws, teeth and had an inhumanly toothed maw in its pale-skinned stomach.  
  
"Whoa!" Ranma ducked a massive punch at his head. Somehow, he didn't think he needed to hold back this time. His leg lashed out, smashing into its jaw. The blow was so powerful that it rocketed the alien into the stratosphere. Without pause, he flew off into the night after it.  
  
"I no think we want to anger him," Pink said sagely.  
  
"I think you think right! Over!" Rink replied.  
  
"Ahem."  
  
"Uh, oh," they cried out together even as they looked over their shoulder in unison.  
  
"Shampoo think you two need go home so Shampoo can deal with Airien. Shampoo be more than happy to make it a body cast and slow boat to China." Shampoo was tapping her open palm with her bonbori.  
  
"This is going to hurt."  
  
"Over."  
  
A green star flashed past them, headed into the air after the two combatants. Moments later, Akane saw the two figures duking it out at the edge of space. Heat vision flared between them as they traded punches in a blur.  
  
"Wow! That thing sure is ugly, whatever it is. Take this!" Akane shouted, blasting out with her ring at full force. The green beam rocketed the alien far off, spinning it around.  
  
Ter'kel spun through the air, her red eyes narrowing in anger. Beams of scarlet energy slammed into a green wall that materialized in front of her. "Cursed, human."  
  
Akane grinned. "No, that's only Ranma! Eat this!" With a burst of will, she blasted the alien with a huge green crème pie.  
  
"Hey!" Ranma cried out in outrage.  
  
"Humans, you are going to die!" Ter'kel shouted in annoyance. She moved at superhuman speeds to appear behind the ring-wielding human.  
  
"Akane!" Ranma yelled out as he blurred to keep up.  
  
Ter'kel smashed both of her clawed fists into her back, causing Akane to scream in pain. Ranma slammed into the alien at full force, even as he saw his fiancée fall. Two pairs of eyes flashed red, beams of intense heat clawing at each other. Without blinking, the martial artist kicked the Martian in the stomach.  
  
Ranma flew forward in a blur, attempting to catch the alien and punish it for what she had done. Much to his surprise, he passed right through her. Before he could spin around, a punishing punch caught him in his back. Ranma reacted instantly, his fist managing to catch the alien by surprise.  
  
Ter'kel frowned in annoyance. None of the others were having anywhere near this problem with their 'super-humans' that they had to deal with. Her eyes narrowed, as she turned intangible again while sending a tendril of her consciousness down into his mind.  
  
"Damn! Fight me!" Ranma cried out, taking a moment to glance to check on the falling girl. She appeared to be flying back up, unsteadily. That momentary lapse of concentration cost him as painful mental barbs pierced his mind.  
  
The White Martian's smile turned nasty as it felt a deep, over-riding fear deep within the human's mind. "Why? You'll defeat yourself easily."  
  
"What are you-" Ranma's question was cut off as overwhelming fear invaded his psyche. "Aaaaah! Keep away! Keep away!" He curled up almost instantly into a ball, falling like a lead weight.  
  
Even as the Martian flew down to finish him off, he felt the mind undergo a startling change. Conscious thought patterns turned into highly optimized fighting instincts. "The Kada'ch Tuor?" Ter'kel hadn't heard of anyone successfully going into such a battle trance in centuries. Suddenly cautious, she held back even as a green glow encompassed the boy.  
  
"Oh, drat. Why did you pick now to go cat?" Akane groused. Abruptly, it occurred to her that the Martian might have done this to him. She quickly erected a bubble of intense force to protect them both. Her concentration was almost broken when Ranma rubbed head up against her calf. "No, you idiot! I'm busy!"  
  
"Ah, you've finally arrived," Ter'kel said to the air as she floated into view.  
  
Goosebumps ran up Akane's back in a cold marathon. Around her appeared more and more of the aliens. "Oh... crap."  
  
"Surrender to us, and we won't kill you," said the lead alien.  
  
"You have to catch us first," Akane yelled out bravely, even as Ranma hissed at them. Bravery wasn't what she was feeling though. With a burst of intense will, she rocketed upwards to the surprise of the aliens.  
  
Three of the aliens chased after them gamely. In moments they were far above Earth, heading away at insane speed. The White Martian couldn't catch up to the girl, as her mind flung her far faster than the speed of light into the dark void.  
  
-  
  
"Shush now Ranma," Akane said soothingly.  
  
The catlike Ranma looked around curiously. Seeing nothing but green and stars he relaxed. Akane's voice snapped his attention back to her. "Meoooow!" he cried happily as he bounded into her; knocking her down to lie in her lap. "Meow."  
  
"You didn't have to knock me down, you know?" Akane asked rhetorically. With a sigh, she started scratch him at the nape of his neck. Minutes passed by quietly.  
  
"W-what happened?" Ranma finally said groggily.  
  
"The alien triggered your Cat-fist." She kept scratching the nape of his neck, seemingly lost in thought.  
  
Ranma let himself be petted for just moment before moving to stand back up. He still wasn't sure about this change in his relationship with this Akane, so worked to keep his distance. Although that kissing they'd shared that night... tempted him. "So what do we do now?" he groused as he stood up.  
  
"We be heroes. And we work as a team," Akane said intently. Her ring flashed, shifting her dress's molecules into a Green Lantern's uniform; tailored to her taste. A short-sleeved gi now clad her form, her inner layer now taking a vague oriental cast to it. She only had short white gloves and slippers and her costume no longer had a mask.  
  
"What? Are you nuts? We just got our asses kicked!" Ranma yelled out.  
  
Akane looked away. "I can't not do it anymore Ranma. I was given this ring for a purpose." She took a deep breath and looked him squarely in the eyes. "I'd be making his... their deaths... meaningless. And I will never do that. Ever."  
  
Ranma opened his mouth to continue to argue, but the intensity of her look stopped him. "All right. I don't think this is smart, but I'm damn sure not going to let you do it by yourself." He suddenly looked around. "Say, where are we?" That whitish sun sure made him feel tingly.  
  
"Alpha Centauri. These aliens might be powerful, but they aren't more powerful than my ring," Akane declared proudly.  
  
"You can get us home, right?"  
  
"What are you insinuating?"  
  
"Uh, nothing!"  
  
-  
  
The first sign that the White Martians' invasion was not proceeding as smoothly was when an almost transparent green mist appeared over the entire island of Japan. Previously invisible Martians became suddenly haloed in a glowing nimbus of green energy.  
  
That's when the three Martians in charge of subduing eastern Asian disappeared off of their communal telepathic link. Four more were stopped and defeated when they entered the nimbus; barely able to give a warning of the new Green Lantern and her male companion attacking them.  
  
The next force was more significant, almost a dozen strong. As they flew into the green mist, a bubble of force cut their war party in half, a scant moment before they were attacked.  
  
An incongruously short and wiry figure appeared behind one of them, unleashing a blindingly fast flurry of punches into his back, blasting the Martian into unconsciousness. A second was hit by a monstrous blast of green energy that struck with the force of a nuclear bomb.  
  
"Uhn! The others are attacking my force-field!" Akane called out even as sweat started to pour from her brow.  
  
"I know! Just hold them off a second!" Ranma called out. A sphere of sunlight appeared within his cupped hands, only to be unleashed on the startled Martian that didn't duck fast enough.  
  
Another Martian slammed into Ranma, clawing and punching at him at blurred speeds. Speeds that Ranma more than matched with his new innate abilities and years of training.  
  
"Where is the last one?" Akane suddenly cried out, looking around wildly. Her gigantic shield started to collapse; one of the Martians' hands breaking through. It took but a moment to reinforce it, but she was frozen in a battle against the strength of supermen.  
  
"Akane, he's waking up the unconscious Martians!" Ranma screamed out, even as managed to get in a few blows, stunning his target.  
  
She used that warning just in the nick of time to protect herself from a superhuman missile. Even so, she was still blasted thru the Tokyo Tower from almost a mile in the air. She rolled to her feet as she ignored her screaming back and twisted foot. As she floated into the air, she saw another missile strike the ground across the city.  
  
Dozens of beams of scarlet fire rained down on the ground, striking again and again at the fallen target. With a cold shock of certainty, Akane knew that was Ranma, fighting for his life. Hardly even realizing it, the ring moved her there instantly.  
  
The sudden cessation of the intense heat vision caused Ranma to gasp from the effort. "Akane?"  
  
"I'm here! There are too many of them! They're too strong!" Akane cried out in fear.  
  
"We'll figure it out, we always do!" Ranma said. He gasped in pain from his bruised and battered body.  
  
"We're wounded and in no... shape to fight. That's it!" Sweat seemed to roll off of her brow as a green glow covered their bodies. "That's... really... tough to do at the same time." She was almost swooning by the time she was done.  
  
Ranma blinked in surprise as his pains washed away in the green glow.  
  
Suddenly, all of the Martians quit attacking the bubble that enclosed them, looking up and off to the horizon. With a snarl, they flashed off into the air, disappearing in a moment.  
  
"What's happened?" Akane said as she took great heaving breaths.  
  
"It's the JLA, they're calling the aliens out to fight them."  
  
"Give me just a second to catch my breath and we'll go help them." Akane sat down for a minute as rivulets of sweat covered her skin. She had never pushed herself that hard before. She felt strangely tingly.  
  
"No way!" Ranma suddenly cried out in alarm.  
  
"What?" Akane asked with a little more strength.  
  
"They're moving the Moon! Dragging it closer to the Earth!"  
  
"Let's go!" Akane commanded, shooting off into the air. She was followed a scant moment later by her fiancé.  
  
Seconds later, Superman was startled when he felt something aiding him in pulling the super-tough chain that was wrapped to the moon; he was using said chain to drag the Moon behind him. A glance over his shoulder showed a young teenaged oriental boy pulling on the chain with all of his might.  
  
Wonder Woman caught Superman's attention, pointing out a second slowing green rocket that had started to pull on the Moon.  
  
"Superman?" the American Green Lantern exclaimed. That shouldn't be possible!  
  
"Keep pulling! Don't stop!" Superman commanded.  
  
Behind them, the edge of the moon was skimming the Earth's atmosphere, air burning incandescently where they touched. At that point, Martian was confronting his fellow Martians with the fate of the world at stake.  
  
"Pull up! Pull up now!" Batman commanded as the White Martians succumbed.  
  
With a tremendous effort of five of the most powerful people on Earth, the Moon pulled up and towards its normal orbit.  
  
Minutes later, the Moon was back in orbit where it should be. They relaxed their efforts, just drifting in space for a second. Superman waved for everyone to follow them back the JLA base of operations. In moments, they were cycled through the airlock.  
  
"Okay! Who are you and how do you have a power ring?" the other Green Lantern demanded. His posture was threatening even as his ring glowed ominously. Even though he looked wounded with his arm being broken, he was more than ready to fight.  
  
"Whoa! Wait just a second! I'll explain to you privately, if you don't mind!" Akane cried out as she held up her palms defensively.  
  
Kyle, the man behind the mask of the Green Lantern, slowly relaxed. "Sure. Come with me."  
  
Wonder Woman looked over the young man with curiosity. "So, if you don't mind, how did you develop super powers?"  
  
Ranma laughed nervously as he took a quick glance at Superman. "Uh, some sort of genetic-manipulation thingy. I'm not really sure of the details."  
  
Superman frowned while looking over him much closer. "Interesting."  
  
Ranma was left by himself a few minutes later. He stared out into the sun- blasted landscape. He must be getting jaded, Ranma thought to himself. He was on the Moon and it didn't even seem to matter.  
  
"Ranma?"  
  
He turned to the speaker. "Yeah, Akane?"  
  
"It's time to go home." The girl looked subdued and withdrawn.  
  
On the trip back to Japan, Ranma snuck glances at her worriedly. The trip was quite short. In minutes, they set down just a few blocks away from the Tendo's residence.  
  
"So, um, what's up?" Ranma finally asked as they walked towards home.  
  
"I had to tell him where I came from."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Akane took a deep breath. "He's not sure what to make of it. He's going to watch me."  
  
She was interrupted by a familiar voice. "Oh, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you two." Nabiki waved to the couple from across the street. "Did you take care of those two pests?"  
  
Ranma and Akane stared at her blankly for a second. "Oh, yeah! No problem!" Ranma responded none too glibly.  
  
"I just had to rescue him again, that's all," Akane said with a smile.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
-  
  
Akane flopped into her bed. It had been a long day and she was ready to go to bed. With a sigh, she sat up and reached for the invisible lantern on the stand next to her bed.  
  
Her fingers failed to latch onto anything. Her eyes scrunched downward in frustration. Had Kasumi moved it accidentally? Her ring suddenly glowed as she willed for it to make the invisible lantern appear.  
  
She stared at the empty spot on her dresser in shock. She glanced around frantically. There was no lantern. With a quick, small burst of will, she checked how much of a charge she had left. Not a lot, but not in danger of running out unless she got into a big fight.  
  
Glowing panels appeared around her head, about three feet out. On each screen, different views appeared. "Bet you that Nabiki... Shampoo?"  
  
Eyes wide with shock, Akane watched Shampoo smirk and create a gigantic panther out of green flames. With a power ring.  
  
A candle of anger fanned itself into a bonfire within her breast. She blasted out her window, a gigantic emerald aura enveloping her as she streaked north towards the Amazon.  
  
Ranma started awake from the guest room. Genma and he had stayed the night to put in a big day of practice in the morning. He had just fallen asleep when he something startled him awake. A quick glance around the house saw everyone in their beds except for Akane. He closed his eyes, almost back to sleep instantly.  
  
Except for Akane? He looked around again, seeing through the walls as easily as most people did windows. Nabiki was getting out of bed, but Akane was just gone.  
  
Nabiki was just opening her door when a wind blasted by her. "Eeek!"  
  
"Akane!" Ranma cried out looking around for clues to her whereabouts from her room. Her window was shattered, shards of glass littered across the lawn.  
  
"Ranma! Hold it down!" a terribly short old man cried out from the neighboring roof.  
  
"Look, old man! Something's happened to Akane!"  
  
"Really? I wonder if it had anything to do with that beam of green light that went north?" Happosai asked. Now he'd get a clue as to what was going on.  
  
"North?" Ranma asked stupidly. He spun around to look north, forgetting for a second that he was inside.  
  
Suddenly, much to even Happosai's surprised perception, Ranma disappeared in a blur out the door past Nabiki.  
  
"What the heck is going on?" Nabiki cried out as Happosai bounced in through the window.  
  
"I don't know." But he would really like to know.  
  
-  
  
"Shampoo." There are many ways to say someone's name. Kindly, happily and even cordially. None of these terms applied to the shear anger and hatred that emanated from Akane Tendo.  
  
"The Perverted Girl? You showed up a lot faster than I thought you would," Shampoo said tersely as she drifted backwards on the wind.  
  
"Who are you calling perverted?" she replied hotly. She was once again clad in her modified GL uniform.  
  
She wasn't sure why Akane was speaking perfect Chinese, but this was an opportunity to really lay into the girl. "Only a perverted girl hurts someone they love. But then, you don't love Ranma like I do! He's just that annoying boy that stays at your place, isn't he?"  
  
The Japanese girl blushed in embarrassment. "I... I only chastise him when he's really being a jerk. If I didn't, he'd just get worse."  
  
"See? It is just obviously perverted to hurt someone that you pretend to care about!"  
  
"Like you haven't laid into Ranma when he was ignoring you or hurting your feelings!"  
  
Shampoo acknowledged that barbed truth with a frown. "That doesn't really matter. Now that I too have a ring of power, I'm again your superior in combat! This will prove to Ranma that I'm the best." Shampoo suddenly smiled like a Cheshire cat. "Not like a flat-chested, unlady-like husband beater like you who can't even cook!"  
  
Akane was shaking by the time Shampoo finished her insults. "I'll make you regret your words!"  
  
Shampoo just smirked, ducking the easily seen blast of energy coming from the shorter girl. Anger would cloud the other girl's mind, making it weak. A stream of flame shot out to engulf her shorter haired antagonist.  
  
A sudden blur of motion interposed itself in between Shampoo and her target.  
  
"Stop!" Ranma shouted. "What is going on?"  
  
"Ranma?" Shampoo queried, looking on morbidly at the flames licking over her love. That heat was intense enough to melt rock! That was easy to see, as Ranma was standing in a puddle of molten rock.  
  
"Ranma... Why are you interfering in our fight?" Akane asked. She was singed, but really was unhurt in any great way.  
  
"Hey! You two shouldn't be fighting!" he protested.  
  
"She... She stole my lantern. I don't know where she got that ring, but she doesn't deserve to be a Green Lantern!" Akane's face contorted into an expression of pained anger.  
  
"Deserve-?" Shampoo shook her head. "I am the best warrior of the greatest tribe of mighty Amazons in the history of the world. My wayward husband is not going to stop me from extracting my vengeance on this pampered and spoiled brat who dares interfere with her betters."  
  
And with that pronouncement, green fire erupted from her ring, bringing forth dozens of cats that herded off the suddenly terrified martial artist. He was quickly cornered up against the wall of a shed.  
  
"And now, Akane Tendo, we finish this fight. Woman to woman." Her lips twisted into a very nasty looking smile.  
  
"You've got that right," Akane bluffed. Her ring was almost empty, almost drained. She hadn't thought that a battle between ring wielders would be so taxing. But wait, something about that fire was familiar.  
  
Then she had it.  
  
Shampoo unleashed a torrent of emerald flames at her target. The Japanese school girl erected a shield that almost buckled under the tremendous pressure.  
  
'I've got to finish this quickly!' she thought to herself. 'But with my ring being so drained, I'm going to lose. Only one chance!' She leaped away, her shields crumbling under the onslaught. Her body hid an emerald figure streaking off into the sky.  
  
"You are finished, Akane Tendo!" the Chinese girl crowed. She blasted the ground right out from under her foe, sending her sprawling. Suddenly, from behind her, a glowing mini-Ranma streaked by, snagging the lantern from her hand and sending it hurtling towards the waiting hand of her antagonist. "No!"  
  
As if guided by fate, the lantern was grabbed by a firm and confident grip. Incandescent light flowed from the lantern into the waiting ring. "Yes! How about you pick on someone whose ring isn't almost drained?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Shampoo stuttered. The aura surrounding the girl had become astounding.  
  
"It means, you're going to get that fight you wanted, just not the way you expected it!" Her ring blasted Shampoo with shocking power, sending the Amazon hurtling into the air miles away.  
  
"How is that possible?" she murmured to herself, shaking the dizziness out of her head. She ducked out of the way as a figure slammed into the ground where she had been, a staff of wood whistling past her nose.  
  
"I am... not... going to let you take away my Ranma!" Green Lantern shouted. "Ever!"  
  
Her nemesis snarled even as she formed a staff from the green flame of her ring. She shifted the staff to block the next blow to her head expertly. Unfortunately, she didn't even get the chance to see the staff pass right thru it without encountering any resistance, stunning her as it slammed into her forehead.  
  
"How-?" she managed to utter in disbelief. If she hadn't been staggered from the first hit, she may have been able to duck the second attack, but it was too late. With the dull sound of wood on her skull, the Chinese girl succumbed to unconsciousness.  
  
"You should have remembered that ring had a weakness to wood. I'm sure that Cologne knew."  
  
"Hey! Akane! Is the fight over?" Ranma asked as he landed lightly next to her. Akane won?  
  
"Yeah." With a wave of her hand, the ring flew from Shampoo's finger. She almost crushed it, but suddenly changed her mind. She concentrated for a long moment, forming a physical duplicate that wouldn't fade once she lost concentration. "I'm keeping the real ring. She'll never know that she doesn't have it and it's safer that way."  
  
Ranma pursed his lips. "That works. Come on, let's take her home and go get some sleep."  
  
And that's what they did. A shame that there was more in store for them.  
  
-  
  
A black shape drifted into the Tendo's home later that same night. Whoever it was, was one with the shadows. His form slipped silently but quickly thru the house. In moments he was noiselessly sliding the door open to the upstairs guest room. Lens-covered eyes took in the two figures laying on the futon.  
  
The bandana wearing old man was known as a disreputable thief in many locales, but was somewhat of a pillar of this community along with the owner of the house.  
  
The boy was an enigma. He appeared out of the blue and managed, with a Green Lantern's aid, to nearly fight the white Martians to a standstill.  
  
Two versus dozens and they were only faring as badly as the JLA itself did. It was teamwork, he was sure. Ranma and Akane had melded the strengths of their powers into a cohesive ability that had almost defeated a dozen Martians at one time.  
  
Batman frowned in thought. The JLA's Green Lantern, Kyle to his close associates, had been quite tight-lipped about where this girl had gotten her ring and how she had learned to use it so effectively. Putting the matter of the girl out of his mind for a moment, he pulled out an incredibly advanced sensor package out of his belt.  
  
Steel had claimed it could do should work as a genetic analyzer, linked the massive computers up in the JLA Tower on the Moon. It was a lot slower than the full lab, but infinitely more portable. He held the little device over the sleeping boy.  
  
A light started blinking, signaling that it had a preliminary analysis ready. His eyes opened in shock at the shocking truth.  
  
Ranma Saotome was much closer to Kryptonian than he was to being a human. That required he test something. Another two belt pouches disgorged a small spray bottle and a dull gray box. He spritzed Genma's face twice with a light mist. Stepping back, he opened the box, revealing a glowing green rock the size of a small marble on a ring.  
  
Ranma instantly started to twitch and quiver. With a start, he opened his eyes to see a glowing green rock that seemed to be floating in the air. "Ugh! What's going on?" He struggled to sit up.  
  
The light suddenly disappeared. "As I thought."  
  
"Batman!" Ranma said crossly, trying to recover as he breathed like he'd run a marathon while fighting those white Martians again. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Testing a theory. If you wish to learn more about why I was here, you will need to talk to Superman. This matter concerns him," Batman said as he drifted into the shadows. He was gone almost instantly.  
  
Ten seconds later, Ranma managed to stagger to his feet. His x-ray vision scanned the whole block, looking the vigilante who had just used him as a guinea pig. He blinked, as he realized he couldn't find him.  
  
"Yo, Pop! I'm leaving! I'll be back in a couple of hours!" Ranma said, shaking his father's form.  
  
All that managed to get as a response was a snore. Grumbling to himself, Ranma threw on his clothes.  
  
"Damn it!" Ranma trotted down the hall and quietly knocked on a door with a duck-nameplate. "Akane!" he whispered loudly.  
  
"What, Ranma?" Akane replied groggily.  
  
"I leaving for a couple of hours. It's, uh, super stuff."  
  
Akane suddenly opened the door on him, narrowing her eyes in anger. Anger that was surprisingly controlled and curtailed. "Is it important?"  
  
"Um, yeah. Batman just showed up and did something to me. Made me feel as weak as a baby."  
  
"Then I'm going with you."  
  
Ranma opened his mouth to argue, but really couldn't think of a good reason to keep her away. With a shrug, he turned and walked off. The two teenagers crept down the hall and out the front door in short order.  
  
Unseen to them, Happosai watched them leave. But by the time he had reached the ground floor, they were already far gone. "What is going on?" Happosai shouted.  
  
-  
  
Metropolis. Long stated as the City of the Future, this astounding city had been reborn recently with the super technology of Brainiac 13. Spires of glass and steal rose high into the air, with flying taxis traveling around.  
  
"So, how are we supposed to find Superman?" Ranma asked, yawning slightly as he stretched.  
  
"I don't know. Hey! A Superman souvenir shop?" Akane took a moment to read the signs. Suddenly, she grinned. "I've got just the thing for you!"  
  
The super-powered martial artist got a creeping feeling at the nape of his neck. "Uh, what?"  
  
"A Superman T-shirt!"  
  
Ranma looked quite confused. "Why?"  
  
"Duh, Ranma! It's because of your powers! It's perfect! Super-Ranma!" Akane paid for the T-shirt with her Yen. She was somewhat surprised that they took it, but it appeared that all of the money tills accepted just about any Earthly denomination.  
  
Ranma had little choice as the shirt was shoved into hands. "I'm not so sure about this."  
  
"Put it on! Please!"  
  
Her fiancé shrugged and blurred for less than a tenth of a second, his outfit changing. "Happy now?"  
  
"Yes! It's perfect! Just like I said!" Akane paused for a second, looking around. "Let's fly around some more. Superman isn't likely to notice us on the ground."  
  
The pedestrians waved cheerfully at the young couple as they flew into the air. For the next hour, they leisurely floated around town, trying to attract the attention of the world's foremost hero, to little avail.  
  
"This isn't getting us anywhere," Ranma pointed out to the young woman flying next to him.  
  
"Do you have a better idea?" she replied.  
  
A red and blue garbed figure zoomed past them to float in front of them.  
  
"Superman! Wait. You're not Superman!" Akane called out.  
  
"No, I'm Superboy! And you, kid, are stepping in my turf. You have to earn that shield before you can wear it!" The young man that floated in the air looked very angry indeed.  
  
"What the heck are you talking about?" the aqua-transsexual asked with a bewildered tone.  
  
"There's only room for one Superboy, and I'm him!" he shouted out as he launched himself at the other boy.  
  
"Hey!" Ranma parried the blows expertly. The other boy had some potential. He just wasn't in his league. "Back off!" With that warning, he kicked him squarely in the stomach at his full speed.  
  
Kon-El, more publicly known as Superboy, managed to stop his flight hundreds of feet away. He could do little except hold his stomach. "Good grief! That felt like one of the Imperiex Drones!" His face's expression hardened. Even if he was out-classed, he wouldn't back down. "You got your one shot in, now it's my turn!" He moved at his full speed, a mere blur to most people.  
  
Ranma, on the other, was not most people. Just as the other boy was about to strike out at him, he lashed out with a flurry of punches. Only a few connected before Superboy disappeared in a blur of blue and red.  
  
"Superman! Finally!" Akane called out.  
  
Indeed it was Superman, floating majestically while holding his heir- apparent with one hand on his upper arm. "Are you two finished fighting?" he asked gravely.  
  
"As long as he doesn't start back up!" Ranma shouted out angrily.  
  
"Hey! I could handle you easy!" Kon-El snapped back.  
  
"Kon, please." He waited for the young man to subside. "Ranma Saotome, this is Kon-El. Kon, apologize for picking the fight."  
  
"But..." Superboy withered under the harsh glare. "I thought he was stealing my name. Like Match did, you know?" His mentor's gaze hadn't wavered. "I'm, uh, sorry about that. I guess I did go off half cocked there."  
  
Ranma was left in an odd position. It wasn't very often that someone actually expressed regret for attacking him. "Um, sure."  
  
"You aren't thinking about calling yourself Superboy, are you?" the owner of the name asked.  
  
"Nah. This shirt was Akane's idea. She thought it was too 'perfect' to let pass up." Ranma jerked his thumb at the girl he was referring to.  
  
"Sorry about that. I didn't think that was going to cause any problems." She shrugged her shoulders and held up her arms in frustration.  
  
"I think we can safely say that is the end of that." Superman turned towards Ranma, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that they were hundreds of feet in the air. "I have some things to go over with you in private, if you don't mind. It has to do with your powers."  
  
"Really? You don't mind Akane coming along, do you?" he asked.  
  
"It's up to you." The Man of Steel pursed his lips thoughtfully. "As a matter of fact, you should come too, now that I think of it, Kon."  
  
"Me? Why? Sure, I suppose."  
  
With that, the quartet of super-powered individuals took off, not stopping until they had found a private mountain hundreds of miles away. It was lightly covered in trees, with just a little snow left on the mountain in the shadows on the north face.  
  
Superman landed lightly, followed by the rest. He turned back towards Ranma. "I'm sorry that Batman invaded your privacy like that. I don't follow the same path he does. I tend to look for the best in people, where he expects the worst."  
  
"It's not a big deal. It wasn't like he was planning to hurt me or nothing." Ranma jammed his hands in his pocket.  
  
"His findings were quite surprising. I had to check with Project Cadimus to double check something with what he had learned with what I knew of Superboy's genetic makeup."  
  
Superboy cocked his head in response to that. "He's not another clone is he?"  
  
"No. It does appear that someone managed to splice into his genes a large selection of Kryptonian-analogue genes. He's about as Kryptonian as you are, Kon."  
  
"So? I'm made from human DNA."  
  
Ranma and Akane looked slightly confused, but tried to keep up.  
  
"Modified human DNA, Kon. It's amazingly similar to my own genes. Both of your genes, actually. Ranma's is a little more off than yours, but that could be attributed to those things that make him uniquely him. According to what I checked into, you're both about seventy-five percent Kryptonian."  
  
"I'm not even human?" Ranma cried out in shock. Akane mirrored his expression.  
  
"Whoa, heavy info!"  
  
"Humans and Kryptonians are genetically similar in many ways. Kryptonian genes are extraordinarily more complex of course, with extra chromosomes to boot." Superman took a deep breath. "So in effect, you are also related to the legacy of Krypton too."  
  
"So what does that make us?" Superboy asked.  
  
"Friends and comrades I hope. And now because of this, cousins by science."  
  
"That's neat, Ranma!" the young woman said excitedly.  
  
"But I'm still Ranma, right?" he asked, ignoring his exuberant significant other for a moment.  
  
"Of course. I would like to get to know you better, at some point," Superman said.  
  
"Sure. I don't think anyone would mind if you showed up at the Dojo at some point. What do you think, Akane?" Ranma looked over his shoulder at her.  
  
"Sure!" 


End file.
